Bourdais wins to clinch fourth title

In scoring the 30th win of his five-year Champ Car career, the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing ace also became the first repeat winner in the Australian race's 17-year history. The Aussie crowd applauded the Frenchman, having long since had their hopes shattered by Will Power's continuing misfortune in his home race.

The Team Australia pilot was waved out of his pits just as Forsythe Championship Racing's David Martinez - located in the next pitbox along - came in. The pair made firm contact, bending Power's right front suspension, and dropping him to the back of the field.

On his charge back through the field, he bounced off Katherine Legge and hard into a tyre wall.

Wilson's second place for RuSPORT was impressive, and early on in the race he passed Bourdais as the pair got bottled up behind the out of sequence Paul Tracy (Forsythe Championship Racing), but in the final stint Wilson had nothing for his former Formula 3000 rival, and he finished seven seconds down.

Third place went to Bruno Junqueira, who thus gave Dale Coyne Racing their third consecutive podium finish. The Brazilian had been locked in combat with Tracy through the final sector, but he had one lap's worth more fuel, and PT had to make a last-lap dash for fuel, dropping him from third to ninth.

Tracy had gone out of sequence after a collision with Oriol Servia's PKV Racing machine had spun him to the back on the opening lap. Servia, meanwhile later made contact with a wall while battling for second with Wilson, which effectively ended his race.

Robert Doornbos was fourth for Minardi Team USA, ahead of Team Australia's second car of Simon Pagenaud, and compatriot Nelson Philippe's Conquest Racing car.

Classified:

Pos  Driver              Team                 Time
 1.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1h45:49.318
 2.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT               +    6.775
 3.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne Racing     +   50.896
 4.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi USA           + 1:02.640
 5.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia        + 1:03.410
 6.  Nelson Philippe     Conquest Racing       + 1:09.010
 7.  Alex Tagliani       Rocketsports          + 1:12.290
 8.  Neel Jani           PKV Racing            + 1:29.789
 9.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe              + 1:48.614
10.  David Martinez      Forsythe              +    1 lap
11.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan   +    1 lap
12.  Mario Dominguez     Pacific Coast         +   2 laps
13.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast         +   2 laps
14.  Oriol Servia        PKV Racing            +   3 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver              Team                        Laps
     Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne Racing             26
     Will Power          Team Australia                18
     Dan Clarke          Minardi USA                   12