McDONALD’S® DRIVER BOURDAIS AND MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL HOPE SECOND HALF OF SEASON SEES THEM POST CONSISTENTLY-STRONG FINISHES BEGINNING WITH THIS WEEKEND’S REXALL GRAND PRIX OF EDMONTON EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada (July 19, 2007) --- As the Champ Car World Series embarks on Round 8 of 14 at the Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton this weekend, McDonald’s® driver Sebastien Bourdais finds himself in unusual territory while ranked third in the series standings after three “Did Not Finish’s” (DNF’s) in the seven races thus far. His third DNF came at the previous race in Toronto when Robert Doornbos hit him from behind causing his race to end in the tire wall while Doornbos was able to continue on to finish sixth and take over the points lead by three over Bourdais (164-161) and two over Toronto winner Will Power (162). Not including his ranking of 13th and third after Rounds 1 and 2 this season, the last time Bourdais was ranked anything but first or second was in his first championship-winning season in 2004 when he was ranked fourth for one event after Round 3 of the season on the Milwaukee oval. He moved up to third, then second before regaining the lead three races later and went on to win his first title. Despite the fact that his three DNF’s in the seven races so far this season nearly reach his total of four in the past three years combined (2004-2006), Bourdais is optimistic that the team will continue to be consistently competitive for the remainder of the season. “It seems like every year it’s a three man battle and it looks that way again with Doornbos, Power and myself,” said Bourdais. “It is tight and intense and will probably go this way until the end. A lot of things can happen but that’s what the championship fight looks to be shaping up as. We will keep on plugging away and doing our job and hopefully we’ll manage to get it done. Our strength has been to try to keep the same intensity throughout the whole race season and not being particularly better at one event than the other, just always being there. Obviously we’ve had our share of DNF’s this season which isn’t ideal. We would like to not have any in the second part of the season. We can’t really afford any more DNF’s. We’ll see what happens and hopefully we’ll have a better second half of the season.” Bourdais won the inaugural event here in 2005 after starting tenth and looked like a strong bet again last year after he started from pole and led 55 of 85 laps on the 1.973-mile temporary street course at Edmonton’s City Centre Airport in Western Canada. Unfortunately the handling of the race car went away midrace and Justin Wilson dropped Bourdais to a second place finish. “The McDonald’s car was really awesome with really good handling to start with last year in the first stint but when we put on the standard Bridgestone tires the balance of the race car went away from us,” recalled Bourdais. “I just watched Justin (Wilson) disappear from us in the distance.” Round 8 in Edmonton is the third and final event of Champ Car’s “Canadian Triple Crown” and a trophy will be given to the team averaging the best finishing position over the three events disputed north of the US border (Mont Tremblant, Toronto). Team Australia’s Will Power and Simon Pagenaud are sitting at the top of the triple crown standings while RSPORTS teammates Alex Tagliani and Justin Wilson are second. Bourdais and teammate Graham Rahal are currently ranked third. Rahal, driver of the No. 2 Medi | Zone entry, started third and finished second in the Atlantic race held here last year and would like nothing more than another podium finish here. “Edmonton was a good event overall for us last year,” said Rahal. “It’s always fun going to a place that has a huge crowd which Edmonton does for sure. For me last year it was a little difficult because we could never be the quickest but certainly this year with the Medi | Zone team we have been making huge strides and I hope we continue that in Edmonton and be right up front. Toronto was a setback for us but we are going to put that behind us and try to be up front again in Edmonton. In the seven previous events this season Rahal has qualified in the top-10 all but once, led two races and finished a season-high second in Houston where he became the youngest podium finisher in series history. He has run in the top-two positions in four of seven races but his finishing position has been limited due to a variety of reasons. In addition to gaining valuable experience while dicing with other drivers at the front of the pack, the 18-year-old has also adapted well to the step up to the more powerful Champ Cars. The Edmonton track is the most physically demanding of the season and Rahal is confident he is ready for the experience. “The biggest challenge the Edmonton track presents is that it is very physical,” said Rahal who is ranked ninth in the standings with 101 points. “For any of the drivers in a long distance race, it will really wear you out. It wasn’t so bad in the Atlantic race but this one will be a lot longer and more difficult. With pit stops and such in the Champ Car race, you should get a 20 second break every once in a while though. I feel physically fit enough. So far this year I have been able to handle a heavier steering effort than Sebastien or most of the other drivers so I feel pretty happy with my physical training. I think this team as a whole, both the Medi | Zone side and the McDonald’s side, will perform well like we have at most of the tracks so far this year.” “It is a tough course because there is not a lot of rest on the track,” added Bourdais. “It’s very much like the Cleveland track when it’s hot. You go from one corner to the next without a break and the grip level is really high and there are high speed corners so G-force wise its pretty exhausting. With the bumps, you get a lot of kickbacks in the steering so the combination of everything makes it a pretty tough race.” The past two years the Edmonton Grand Prix has drawn over 371,000 fans to the City Centre Airport to watch the drivers of the Champ Car World Series battle for victory. In its 2005 debut the Edmonton Grand Prix drew more than 200,000 fans for the three-day event setting a Champ Car record for a Canadian race. In its second year, Edmonton set the third-highest attendance figure ever posted at a Canadian race. Rahal is expecting another large crowd this year as well as a wide-open race that anyone can win. “The main competition this year has been Sebastien, of course, and (Robert) Doornbos, who is doing a great job so he’ll be tough to beat,” said Rahal. “The Team Aussie cars are strong also. On any given weekend it can be anybody though and hopefully this weekend it will be us. We’ve just got to beat everybody.” Practice and qualifying will take place on Friday and Saturday with the Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton starting at 3:00 p.m. local ET on Sunday. Live coverage of the race will be provided by ESPN in the United States and in Canada on Global starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. ONE WIN, ONE POLE IN TWO RACES HERE: Will be his third race here. In 2006 he led 55 laps from pole but struggled with the handling of his race car during the second stint on regular Bridgestone tires and finished second to Wilson to maintain his pre-race 23-point lead over second place. In 2005 he extended his points lead from 15 to 21 over second place after his win from a 10th place start here. He crashed in Friday’s provisional qualifying and rain on Saturday prevented improvement. THIRD IN 2007 POINT STANDINGS: Crashed in final qualifying in Las Vegas season-opener and started 16th in the 17 car field. Overcame two unscheduled stops for punctured tires and charged into third place but brushed a wall and had to make another pit stop. Returned to the race in 11th place but his day ended when he made contact in Turn 4 on the 31st of 68 laps…Led 58 laps and won from pole in Long Beach to rebound to a third place rank…Was the provisional polesitter in Houston and set the fastest lap time in final qualifying but CCWS ruled he had interfered with the lap time of Power and took away that lap. He started second but took the lead at the start by cutting the chicane and was told to give the position up to Wilson on the next lap but regained the lead on Lap 14 and only relinquished it after pit stops. Set the fastest race lap en route to victory…Started third in Portland and brought the team their 100th victory in dominating fashion. After his third place start he temporarily dropped to fifth but stretched his fuel two laps longer than race leader Wilson on the first stint and closed an +18-second deficit to take over the leader after the second stop, which he held through his third and won by a 13.5 second margin over Wilson…His 11 point, pre-race lead over second in the standings was reduced to three after he did not finish the Cleveland event due to engine failure after leading 27 laps and running second at the time. He also started from pole and set the fastest race lap…Qualified third in Mont Tremblant and took the lead on the first lap when polesitter Gommendy’s car wouldn’t start and second place Power stalled. Led the first 27 laps but spun on the wet track on slick tires and dropped back to 11th but recovered to finish second to Robert Doornbos…Earned both points for fastest qualifier in Toronto to start the race from pole with a two-point lead over Doornbos but was hit by him with five laps to go while fifth and retired in ninth place. Doornbos was able to continue to finish sixth and take over the points lead with 164 to Will Power’s 162 and third place Bourdais’s 161. 2007 24 HOURS OF LE MANS: Teamed with Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin at Peugeot in his first effort with a factory team and finished second overall despite the program only being six months old. Set the fastest lap (3:26.707, a new lap record) in the pre-race test on June 3 and was 1.5 seconds faster than Pirro in the lead Audi that won last year. Started from pole. HISTORY MAKING THIRD CONSECUTIVE TITLE IN 2006: 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. Both Horn and Bourdais clinched their titles in the penultimate event but Horn was unable to attempt four after he died in a crash in the season finale…Bourdais earned seven wins, seven poles and finished on the podium 11 times in 14 races. FOUR IN A ROW RARE IN SPORTS: Bourdais has the rare opportunity to win four consecutive championships this year if he can again capture the Vanderbilt Cup for the fourth time since 2004. No Champ Car driver has ever won four straight titles. 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. FOX SPORTS BEST NON AMERICAN ATHLETES: Recently made a list complied by Fox Sports of the 10 best non American athletes. Others on the list include reigning F 1 champ Fernando Alonso, Brazilian soccer stars Ronaldinho and Adriano, golf stars Luke Donald (England) and Padraig Harrington (Ireland) as well as four others. 26 WINS IN 64 RACES (40.6 percent): (’03 – England, Germany & Cleveland; ’04 – Monterrey, Portland, Cleveland, Toronto, Denver, Las Vegas, Mexico City; ’05 – Long Beach, Edmonton, San Jose, Denver, Las Vegas, Australia; ’06 Long Beach, Houston, Monterrey, Milwaukee, San Jose, Montreal, Mexico City; ’07 Long Beach, Houston, Portland). He earned his 20th career victory in just his 49th start with a win in Milwaukee. The feat obliterates the former record of 79 starts to reach 20 wins, held by A.J. Foyt. Mario Andretti (80), Tony Bettenhausen (96) and Rick Mears (97) as the only other drivers to reach 20 wins in 100 starts. 26 CCWS POLES IN 64 RACES (42 percent): (’03 – St. Pete, Monterrey, Germany, Cleveland, Australia; ’04 – Monterrey, Portland, Toronto, Elkhart Lake, Denver, Montreal, Laguna Seca, Mexico City; ’05 – Monterrey, Toronto, San Jose, Montreal, Las Vegas; ’06 – Long Beach, Monterrey, Milwaukee, Edmonton, San Jose, Denver, Montreal; ’07 Long Beach). Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “It seems like every year it’s a three man battle and it looks that way again with Doornbos, Power and myself. It is tight and intense and will probably go this way until the end. A lot of things can happen but that’s what the championship fight looks to be shaping up as. We will keep on plugging away and doing our job and hopefully we’ll manage to get it done. Our strength has been to try to keep the same intensity throughout the whole race season and not being particularly better at one event than the other, just always being there. Obviously we’ve had our share of DNF’s this season which isn’t ideal. We would like to not have any in the second part of the season. We can’t really afford anymore DNF’s. We’ll see what happens and hopefully we’ll have a better second half of the season. “The McDonald’s car was really awesome with really good handling to start with last year in the first stint but when we put on the standard Bridgestone tires the balance of the race car went away from us. I just watched Justin (Wilson) disappear from us in the distance. “The year before was a funny race. We had to start from 10th place after I made a mistake in qualifying on Friday. It rained on Saturday so we couldn’t improve. It was a funny race with people making mistakes, me passing a few guys at the start and then holding a little bit. We were in the right place at the right time which was fortunate and we ran away with it. It was a sweet win because so much happened in the race. “It is a tough course because there is not a lot of rest on the track. It’s very much like the Cleveland track when it’s hot. You go from one corner to the next without a break and the grip level is really high and there are high speed corners so G-force wise its pretty exhausting. With the bumps, you get a lot of kickbacks in the steering so the combination of everything makes it a pretty tough race.” 1 PODIUM IN EDMONTON: Will be his second race here and first in a Champ Car. Started third and finished second in the 2006 Atlantic race here. SO FAR IN 2007: Had an electrical problem in Friday’s qualifying in the season-opening race in Las Vegas and had to qualifying his backup car on Saturday due to crashing in the morning practice. Started 10th but had to make an evasive move to avoid a swerving Dan Clarke who hit him prior to Turn 1 on the first racing lap. Retired in 17th place… Qualified fifth in Long Beach but pit strategy of others and slow fuel flow on two pit stops led to an eighth place finish…Started sixth in Houston and finished second to bring the team it’s first 1-2 finish since Las Vegas in 2005…Started eighth in Portland but struggled to pass Dan Clarke and went off course twice while trying and ultimately finished ninth…Earned his highest start of fourth in his home race in Cleveland but a battle with Doornbos for position led to being hit from behind by Tracy and he went off course and subsequently to the rear of the field. Came back to lead four laps for the first time in his Champ Car career and had a late race battle with leader Tracy but had to pit for five gallons of fuel and finished eighth…Started ninth in Mont Tremblant, pitted for his last stop after he led seven laps but a shifting problem led to a stalled car and he rejoined the field 10th. Finished seventh to tie with Oriol Servia for eighth place…The team struggled in Toronto and Rahal started 15th but an evasive move to avoid a pile up on Lap 1 led to him hitting the wall and a subsequent stop for a new front wing. Had to pit again for another front wing later in the race after running as high as second. Retired in 11th place after he made contact for the third time due to a broken steering rack…Is ranked ninth with 101 points. ALSO IN 2007: Rahal competed in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (water pump failure) and 12 Hours of Sebring (battled back from opening lap crash to finish sixth in GT2 class). RUNNER-UP TO 2006 ATLANTIC CHAMPION: 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)…He led the most laps (129, 32 percent) and set a series-high five fastest race laps …He was awarded the BBS of America Rising Star Award. DID YOU KNOW: Graham Robert Rahal, 18, was born in Columbus, Ohio on 1-4-1989 and resides in New Albany, Ohio…The 6’2” driver is one of four children of Bobby Rahal, three-time open wheel champion, Indy 500 winner and Hall of Fame race car driver…Has two sisters (Michaela and Samantha) and one brother (Jarrad)…He graduated from New Albany High School with a 3.8 GPA on June 3, 2007…When he is not racing he likes to work on cars, hang out with friends and family or play other sports for fun…To prepare for the physicality of racing he spends many hours doing cardiovascular training and weightlifting, skiing, running or bicycling…He drives a 2007 Atomic Orange Corvette Z06 and his favorite type of clothing is anything made by Puma…His favorite food is sushi and his weaknesses are ice cream and white chocolate mocha drinks at Starbucks…His favorite books are those written by Lance Armstrong (and anything he reads other than for school)…His favorite thing to watch on TV is any Ohio State Buckeye game, his favorite actor/actress are Owen Wilson and Eva Longoria and favorite movie is “Wedding Crashers.” ABOUT MEDI | ZONE: MEDI | ZONE is a leader of medically supervised weight loss, weight maintenance, wellness and performance programs, products, and services as well as the exclusive provider of the leading cutting edge health, wellness and performance systems by Dr. Barry Sears, the best selling author of the Zone Diet series. MEDI | ZONE owns and operates medically supervised weight loss, weight maintenance, wellness, and performance centers. Graham Rahal, #2 Medi | Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “Edmonton was a good event overall for us last year. It’s always fun going to a place that has a huge crowd which Edmonton does for sure. For me last year it was a little difficult because we could never be the quickest but certainly this year with the Medi | Zone team we have been making huge strides and I hope we continue that in Edmonton and be right up front. Toronto was a setback for us but we are going to put that behind us and try to be up front again in Edmonton. “The biggest challenge the Edmonton track presents is that it is very physical. For any of the drivers in a long distance race, it will really wear you out. It wasn’t so bad in the Atlantic race but this one will be a lot longer and more difficult. With pit stops and such in the Champ Car race, you should get a 20 second break every once in a while though. I feel physically fit enough. So far this year I have been able to handle a heavier steering effort than Sebastien or most of the other drivers so I feel pretty happy with my physical training. I think this team as a whole, both the Medi | Zone side and the McDonald’s side, will perform well like we have at most of the tracks so far this year. “The main competition this year has been Sebastien, of course, and (Robert) Doornbos, who is doing a great job so he’ll be tough to beat. The Team Aussie cars are strong also. On any given weekend it can be anybody though and hopefully this weekend it will be us. We’ve just got to beat everybody.”