Friday, July 27, 2007 Grand Prix of San Jose – San Jose, Canada Round 9 of 14 in the Champ Car World Series 2007 Season McDONALD’S ® DRIVER BOURDAIS ON PROVISIONAL POLE FOR THE GRAND PRIX OF SAN JOSE; CONTACT LIMITED MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL TO 13TH 1st: Sebastien Bourdais 49.509 / 104.926 mph (earned 1 point & guaranteed front row start) 13th: Graham Rahal 50.217 / 103.447 mph Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “The first run I spent more time on the escape road than on the track. We have a brake issue, we know that. But we didn't have any time to fix it at lunchtime. We have variable brake values that keeps on tricking me; one locks the rears and one locks the fronts, and I'm still not changing anything. It's very difficult out there. On the second run we were just trying to find the gap, and every time we had something, where we were like, ‘Yeah, it's going to be all right,’ then someone would run in escape road and someone would end up backing off, so we couldn't do that. I finally got one opportunity and I still don't know quite how it worked out, but we made it stick, and the brake values didn't play any tricks with me, so I was pretty happy about the outcome because it didn't look really good for the McDonald’s team for a long, long time.” FAST FACTS: Leads the point standings by 21 points over Doornbos (194-174)…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)…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: “I just brushed the outside wall in Turn 2. I am totally disappointed because on that lap we were up three tenths. If we were off by just that, then we would have gained on our second set of tires then we probably could have been on pole. We have the outright pace, the car feels very good to me, but unfortunately pace is not enough. I really feel bad for the Medi | Zone team, because they worked so hard.” FAST FACTS: 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…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 TWO races, TWO poles and THREE podiums in two San Jose events. NHR won from pole in 2005 and 2006. Oriol Servia started second and finished third in 2005…Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) hopes to add to these numbers. The morning warm-up will take place from 10:15-11:30 AM ET while final qualifying will begin at 2:00 PM PT.