Title showdown in Mexico

The Newman-Haas duo are locked in an exclusive head-to-head contest for the crown and, although Bourdais holds the advantage with a 22 points lead over Junqueira, he knows that he has can take absolutely nothing for granted.

"We still have a strong shot at winning the championship but the McDonald's team really needs to finish in Mexico City," he said. "We can't afford to have any mechanical failures or get caught up in an accident. It's going to be a scary start over there this year."

Bourdais has been dominant this year, taking the most wins and poles of any driver, and only needs to finish ninth or better to grab the title.

Junquiera knows that he will need a bit of good luck if he is going to wrest the title from his team-mate's grasp, but he is well aware that he cannot simply rely on fortune to aid his cause.

The Brazilian put in a supreme effort to win at Surfers Paradise to keep himself in the title hunt - and failure to overcome Bourdais this weekend will leave him with the unenviable record of becoming the first driver since Johnny Rutherford (1974-76) to finish as Champ Car runner-up in three consecutive seasons.

"For sure Sebastien will need to make a mistake or have a problem in Mexico City for the PacifiCare team to win the Championship," he said. "If Sebastien has a problem, I'll be there to win the championship.

"We have to try to do our best and win the race. A lot of guys are going to take big risks to try to win the race since it's the last race and they have no chance to win the championship but it's the kind of thing you see throughout the year. Some guys just want to get good results in the races."

Junqueira will take some heart from the fact that he started from pole position last year - although he will want to forget the stomach problems that turned him off form and left him languishing in seventh spot at the end of the race.