Saturday, July 21, 2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Round 8 of 14 in the Champ Car World Series 2007 Season McDONALD’S ® DRIVER BOURDAIS TO START SECOND IN THE REXALL GRAND PRIX OF EDMONTON BASED ON FRIDAY’S TIME; MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL MATCHED HIS BEST START OF FOURTH 1st: Will Power 58.403 / 121.617 mph 2nd: Sebastien Bourdais 58.596 / 121.216 mph (start based prov. pole from Friday; 4th fast in Q2) 4th: Graham Rahal 58.485 / 121.447 mph (3rd fastest overall time in Q2) Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “We had a really good car in the 15 minutes (of qualifying practice), and it was going really well in the qualifying session. And just like Justin said, P.T. was just playing a little bit again in the last two laps and - well, pretty much the whole run, but the last two laps when it really mattered. And he backed up Bruno, and Bruno did me, and that was that. It was the last corner, so that ruined the last two laps. We had a 58.1 going on so it was a little frustrating obviously because the McDonald’s team did a fantastic job and the car was great. I don't particularly think that our car was handling better on the Bridgestone red tires. We had done a fairly good lap on the blacks that I think it was very close to the pole actually. So I was fairly happy with that. I think there's a little balance difference. But the two sets are pretty close and work well here. But, you know, it's going to be a long day tomorrow and we'll see what happens.” FAST FACTS: Trails new points leader Doornbos by two points (164-162)…Will be his third race here. He won one race and finished second in the other and started from pole once…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. …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: “It was a good day for the whole Medi | Zone team. The whole weekend has been solid. We’ve been third in every single session so far so. We’re just happy to be less than a tenth of a second off pole. At the end of the day we know we had a lap that was quick enough to be on pole. I know drivers say this all the time we really did have a lap that was one-tenth and a half up right at the end. I just got into Turn 11 a little too hot and locked up the right front and went wide and lost the time. For sure we were really quick and definitely had a pole car but just didn’t put it together. We hope that tomorrow will be a good event for the Medi | Zone team. The last airport circuit track in Cleveland was successful for us. We had a good run although the results don’t show it. This weekend has been solid so maybe the airport circuits have been good to us.” FAST FACTS: Will be his second race here and first in a Champ Car. Started third and finished second in the 2006 Atlantic race here…Finished second in the 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). NHR has won ONE race (Bourdais 2005), ONE pole (Bourdais 2006) and THREE podium finishes here (2nd – Bourdais 2006; 3rd – Servia 2005). Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) hopes to add to these numbers… This weekend’s Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton is the third of three events in the Champ Car “Canadian Triple Crown” and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal are ranked third in the mini championship. The morning warm-up will take place from 9:00-9:30 AM MT while the Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton will begin at 1:00 PM MT and be televised on ESPN beginning at 3 pm ET.