Friday, April 13, 2007 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach - Streets of Long Beach, Calif. Round 2 of 14 in the Champ Car World Series 2007 Season McDONALD'S® DRIVER BOURDAIS DROPPED TO SECOND IN PROVISIONAL QUALIFYING FOR THE TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH ON FINAL LAP; MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL EIGHTH 1st: Will Power 1:07.920 / 104.311 mph 2nd: Sebastien Bourdais 1:07.970 / 104.234 mph 8th: Graham Rahal 1:09.063 / 102.585 mph Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone¨ “I think it was a good session for the McDonald's team. I think we really needed to get ourselves back together after the terrible weekend we had in Vegas. It worked out all right. I kind of keep on paying for the mistakes I made in Vegas with that really bad weekend. Because of our finishing position in Las Vegas, we had practically last pick of pits and are at pit in instead of pit out where we have been most years. I only got one lap due to that in the second run because we were last to leave the pits. It was just not enough. One lap is usually the first lap to kind of get up to speed; the second lap to get the lap time to a decent level. It was just not enough. Good job to Team Australia. I think they definitely got the mixture together. We're going to try and give them a run for their money. It definitely looked like we had the speed on the first run, so we'll try harder tomorrow.” FAST FACTS: Will be his fifth race here. Scored the maximum of points here in 2006 after starting first, leading 70/74 laps, setting the fastest race lap en route to a win. Started fourth and won in 2005 after he led 37 laps. Started second and finished third in 2004. Started fifth in 2003, led three laps and was in fifth place when his engine failed after 70/90 laps which resulted in a 16th place finish…Became the first open wheel driver to win three consecutive championships since Ted Horn accomplished the feat from 1946-1948 and only the second in the 98 year history of the sport… He has the rare opportunity to win four consecutive championships this year if he can again capture the Vanderbilt Cup, which would extend his run that began in 2004. Bourdais would be making history as no Champ Car driver has ever won four straight championships. Four in a row is very rare in professional sports in fact it has never been done in either NASCAR or NFL and it hasn’t been accomplished in the last twenty years in the NBA, NHL or MLB. Graham Rahal, No. 2 Medi | Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: "The qualifying session was a lot better for the Medi | Zone team. We had a couple of problems with shifting in the morning practice and lost some time so it was good to have a mostly trouble free session. I just barely touched the wall on the back straight but I don’t think I bent anything. I do know there is more time to get out of the car. I think we can still be closer to the front but eighth is better. I know the track so I am more comfortable right away.” FAST FACTS: Will be his second race here and first in a Champ Car. Made his Atlantic debut here last year. Started seventh and finished fifth…First test in a Lola Champ Car was for the team in Sebring, Fla. on September 13-14, 2006. Also ran in Homestead, Fla. and Houston in 2006. Tested the DP01 Panoz in Sebring, Houston and Laguna Seca in 2007. .. Rahal finished second in the 2006 Champ Car Atlantic championship after a title hunt that concluded in the season finale. Led 129 laps to champion Pagenaud’s 31. He earned a series-high five wins (42 percent), four poles (33 percent) and six podium finishes (50 percent) in the 12 events and at 17 years old was the youngest race winner in series history (Monterrey, Mexico on 5-21-06). 5 WINS IN LONG BEACH: NHLR has FIVE WINS, 13 PODIUMS and NINE POLES here. (WINS by Bourdais 2005-2006 & Mario Andretti 1987, 1985, 1984; 2nd place finishes by Junqueira 2004, Cristiano da Matta 2001, Nigel Mansell 1994, Michael Andretti 1989; 3rd place finishes by Junqueira 2005 & 2003, Bourdais 2004, Mansell 1993.) (POLES by Bourdais 2006, Junqueira 2004, Mi. Andretti 1995, Mansell 1993, Mi. Andretti 1992, Mi. Andretti 1991, Ma. Andretti 1987, Ma. Andretti 1985, and Ma. Andretti 1984.) The morning practice session will take place from 10:15-11:30 AM PT while final qualifying will take place from 2:00-3:00 PM.