Saturday, August 11, 2007 Champ Car Generac Grand Prix at Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wis. Round 10 of 14 in the Champ Car World Series 2007 Season McDONALD’S ® DRIVER BOURDAIS ON POLE FOR THE CHAMP CAR GENERAC GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA; MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL TO START FOURTH 1st: Sebastien Bourdais 1:41.535 / 143.525 mph (earned 1 point) 2nd: Will Power 1:43.116 / 141.324 mph (Friday time) 4th: Graham Rahal 1:43.732 / 140.485 mph (fastest in AM practice; 3rd fast in Q2) Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “This morning we had some kind of gearbox issue, something broke at the back. I don't know exactly what it is, at least not in English. It just kind of broke. We did one lap and that was that. I’m just very, very happy that the McDonald's car was super fast again. It was very consistent for us. To be very honest, we haven't changed anything on the car since yesterday. It felt just as well. It just proves we had a really good read at the test, and had a very productive work. It's about as good as it gets. It was a fantastic lap. You know, I really had a great, great time driving this car. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. It's going to be a completely different story. It might be raining, might be doing anything, since we're on the pole and dominant. I guess we'll see what happens. We've been in this position before and we still managed to lose it, so I'm not going to say anything about the race really. This is one of these places where when you get into a rhythm, you just really enjoy yourself and have a great time. That's what happened today. Just the car was super well-balanced. You know, you get in a flow and you enjoy yourself. Usually when you do that, it goes fast.” FAST FACTS: Leads the point standings by 12 points over Doornbos (218-206)…Will be his fourth race here. In 2006, he finished third despite having a dominant car all weekend. Was fastest in practice sessions run in the dry but both qualifying sessions were dictated by strategy in the rain. Set the fastest lap in Saturday’s wet qualifying to earn a second place start. Led 28 laps and built two 12+ and 15+ second leads over second place and set the fastest lap of the race (repeatedly) but race strategy limited him to a third place finish. Started from pole and led 13 laps in 2004 but a miscue on the restart that had the pace car in the middle of the track, the timing of the caution flags and fuel strategy (3 mandatory green flag stops) dictated the outcome and he finished third. He had been in the lead before the ragged restart and dropped to third as a result. Started and finished second to teammate Junqueira in 2003…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: “After being fastest in the morning practice and running well in the short practice before qualifying, we were hoping to make a big improvement in our qualifying position from yesterday and we were able to. Actually on the last lap we were up two-tenths of a second on my quickest lap but I ran out of fuel. I was up two-tenths of a second on a part of the track where I always lost two-tenths so I knew the lap was going to be good, and, ultimately it would have gotten us a front row start. We weren’t expecting to get the extra lap so it wasn’t a big surprise but we thought we would go for one last lap and it would have been better. Fourth is still a good starting position for the Medi | Zone team. We’re still a ways back from Sebastien but so is everyone and we’ll just have to work hard to close the gap in the race.” FAST FACTS: Will be his fourth race here and first in a Champ Car. Finished runner-up to the champion in the Atlantic standings in 2006 after the fight went to the Road America finale and he retired in 20th due to an electrical failure after starting third. Also competed in two Formula BMW events here in 2004 and once in Start Mazda in 2005…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 NINE races (Junqueira 2003; da Matta 2002; Fittipaldi 1999; Michael Andretti – 1996, 1991, 1990; Mario Andretti 1987, 1984, 1983) EIGHT poles (Bourdais – 2004 & 2007; Junqueira – 2003; Mi. Andretti – 1999, 1998; Mario Andretti 1987, 1984, 1983) and 19 podium’s here (2nd – Bourdais 2003, Mi. Andretti 1999, Tracy 1995, Mansell 1993; 3rd – Bourdais 2006 & 2004, Fittipaldi 1998, Mario Andretti 1991 & 1988, Jones 1985). NHLR is hoping to add to those numbers. The morning warm-up will take place from 9:45-10:15 AM ET while the Champ Car Generac Grand Prix at Road America will begin at 2:00 PM CT and be televised live on ABC.