McDONALD’S® DRIVER BOURDAIS AIMS TO MAKE IT THREE-FOR-THREE IN GRAND PRIX OF SAN JOSE; MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL LOOKING FOR THIRD PODIUM SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 26, 2007) --- McDonald’s driver Sebastien Bourdais and Medi | Zone driver Graham Rahal are each looking for a “third” of sorts in the third annual Grand Prix of San Jose at Redback Raceway this weekend. Bourdais reclaimed the Champ Car points lead with his win in last weekend’s race in Edmonton and is hoping to earn his third consecutive San Jose win and increase his slim 20-point lead over second place Robert Doornbos (194-174). Rahal also had a strong finish in Edmonton and earned his second podium finish with third place. He’s looking for his third podium finish of the season this weekend. “The McDonald’s team has done a really good job both years in San Jose,” said Bourdais of his two wins from pole in the two events held in San Jose. “It’s tough to say which San Jose win is my favorite but last year we really had to fight for it. There was a little more activity in the race and a little more passing. I think last year was a better show. Craig (Hampson, engineer) was really on top of things and did a really pretty good job to make the car drivable and easy to drive to not make any mistakes more than anything and that has really been the key. When you start from pole after doing a good job in qualifying you’re in pretty good shape for the rest of the weekend.” After eight of 14 races this season, Bourdais has earned four wins and one second place but did not finish three events. He is hoping to finish the remaining events this season and when he has finished, he has usually done it on the podium. Although he has had success on the 1.443-mile temporary street course, he does not consider it an easy one for himself or the McDonald’s team. “It’s a tiny little race track but at the same time you really have to hang it all out in qualifying,” said Bourdais, who set the fastest lap of the race both years. “It’s not particularly low grip, it’s pretty bumpy and its really easy to make a mistake like locking up a wheel and ending up in an escape road and that’s the last thing you need in qualifying so you’ve got to stay on your toes. The promoter did a great job to make the track less bumpy than it was the first year. They are still city streets and it’s never going to be smooth. The nature of the race track makes it pretty unforgivable which is the biggest challenge.” After earning his second podium finish of the season of third place at the previous race in Edmonton, Medi | Zone driver Graham Rahal, 18, is hoping to continue the momentum. Although Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing’s results at this track are a confidence booster going into the weekend he knows that the team will work as hard as ever and not rest of their past success. “It’s good that the team has won both races in San Jose,” said Rahal, who will be featured in the upcoming issue of ESPN The Magazine. “As a team, we know that we have a lot of victories everywhere but you can’t rely on that because if you do, you get passed up. Obviously the team has got a good setup there and hopefully they can adapt it to the Panoz and we can continue to win there, especially if it’s the Medi | Zone team.” Like many races this season, Rahal has experience on this track. He competed in the Champ Car Atlantic championship here last year where he started, and was running in, second place when he made contact with the tire wall and retired in 12th after setting the fastest race lap. Despite the rare end result he is looking forward to returning to the track. “In the Atlantic race last year I made a mistake coming down the back straight and locked up the rear tires in the brake zone and I could never get them unlocked for some reason,” said Rahal. “It’s a rare occurrence but it happens at times and I nudged into the tire wall. It was unfortunate because, looking back on it, if I would have finished second, which is where I was, I would have won the championship last year. It was a difficult one for me but certainly I love the track, it’s very fast. I’m looking forward to getting on it in the Medi | Zone Champ Car. It will be interesting to see what happens. The San José Grand Prix will be more than a race. It’s a week-long festival both on and off the track. Activities include Festival Areas with interactive games, live music, driver autograph sessions, and more. Off-track events include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a drivers’ VIP party including the Fan Favorites Award Ceremonies, the CXO Celebrity Go Kart race and the Canary Foundation “Cabana” fundraiser and exotic car show. Proceeds from these events all benefit the Canary Foundation. Bourdais leads the point standings with 194 while second place Robert Doornbos has 174 and Will Power has 169 while Rahal is ranked eighth with 126 points after Round 8 of 14. Practice and qualifying will take place on Friday and Saturday with the San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway starting at 3:00 p.m. PT on Sunday. Live coverage of the race will be provided by ESPN2 at 6:00 p.m. ET. TWO FOR TWO FROM POLE IN SAN JOSE: Will be his third race here. In 2006, he led 69 of 97 laps and won from pole after setting the fastest lap of the race and increased his lead over Wilson to 31 points. In 2005 he drove to victory from pole after he led 63/93 laps and set the fastest race lap to stretch his points lead from 22 to 28 for a total of 216 to Tracy’s 188 (+28). 2007 POINT LEADER: 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 by two over Power and three over Bourdais…Qualified second in Edmonton but took the lead at the start and led until his first stop when he dropped to third to avoid a car while trying to leave his pits. Ran two laps longer and regained the lead after the second stop to win after setting the fastest race lap…Leads the standings with 194 to Doornbos’s 174 (+20). 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): 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) Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “The McDonald’s team has done a really good job both years in San Jose. It’s tough to say which San Jose win is my favorite but last year we really had to fight for it. There was a little more activity in the race and a little more passing. I think last year was a better show. Craig (Hampson, engineer) was really on top of things and did a really pretty good job to make the car drivable and easy to drive to not make any mistakes more than anything and that has really been the key. When you start from pole after doing a good job in qualifying you’re in pretty good shape for the rest of the weekend. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF THE TRACK: “It’s a tiny little race track but at the same time you really have to hang it all out in qualifying. It’s not particularly low grip, it’s pretty bumpy and its really easy to make a mistake like locking up a wheel and ending up in an escape road and that’s the last thing you need in qualifying so you’ve got to stay on your toes. The promoter did a great job to make the track less bumpy than it was the first year. They are still city streets and it’s never going to be smooth. The nature of the race track makes it pretty unforgivable which is the biggest challenge.” IN SAN JOSE: Will be his second race here and first in a Champ Car. Started second and was in second place when he made contact with the tire wall and retired in 12th place in the 2006 Atlantic race here. Also set the fastest race lap. 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…Started fourth and finished third in Edmonton…Is ranked eighth with 126 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: “It’s good that the team has won both races in San Jose. As a team, we know that we have a lot of victories everywhere but you can’t rely on that because if you do, you get passed up. Obviously the team has got a good setup there and hopefully they can adapt it to the Panoz and we can continue to win there, especially if it’s the Medi | Zone team. “In the Atlantic race last year I made a mistake coming down the back straight and locked up the rear tires in the brake zone and I could never get them unlocked for some reason. It’s a rare occurrence but it happens at times and I nudged into the tire wall. It was unfortunate because, looking back on it, if I would have finished second, which is where I was, I would have won the championship last year. It was a difficult one for me but certainly I love the track, it’s very fast. I’m looking forward to getting on it in the Medi | Zone Champ Car. It will be interesting to see what happens. “Sebastien likes his car setup different than I do. I can’t drive a car like Sebastien does; he likes a lot of understeer in his car and I just can’t cope with that. Every driver is a little bit different, and Seb and I tend to go our different ways on setup. At the end of the weekend when it comes to race time usually we end up pretty similar to one another, set-up wise.”