Friday, August 31, 2007 Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix – Assen, the Netherlands Round 12 of 14 in the Champ Car World Series 2007 Season MEDI | ZONE DRIVER RAHAL THIRD FAST IN WET PROVISIONAL QUALIFYING SESSION FOR THE BAVARIA CHAMP CAR GRAND PRIX; McDONALD’S ® DRIVER BOURDAIS SIXTH 1st: Justin Wilson 1:30.656 / 112.383 mph (earned 1 point & front row start) 3rd: Graham Rahal 1:31.858 / 110.910 mph 6th: Sebastien Bourdais 1:32.244 / 110.446 mph Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “The McDonald’s car was good in dry conditions but we just gave the wet set up a shot when the rain started in qualifying and it was just reasonable, but not too comfortable. It had dried out a little but on the second run it was starting to rain really bad when I went back out so I decided to save the tires because it might rain all weekend. The weather is supposed to be like this all weekend so hopefully we will hit it right when the conditions change.” FAST FACTS: Leads the point standings by 53 points over Doornbos (283-250)…1st and 2nd CCWS wins came in Europe. Will be his fourth Champ Car race in Europe. After DNF’s (did not finish) in his first three Champ Car events as a rookie in 2003 (St. Pete & Monterrey – contact; Long Beach – engine), the first time he finished a Champ Car race was also the first time he drove to victory after he paced 95 laps at Round 4 in Brands Hatch, UK, including the final 33…Became the first driver in series history to win from pole in his oval racing debut in Lausitz, Germany after he led 74 laps and earned back-to-back victories in the series with a thrilling win over Mario Dominguez by 0.084 seconds. Won from pole in 2007 Belgium race…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: “Ultimately it was a pretty good day for the Medi | Zone team. It’s always good to be up front. If it were dry we could have had a better qualifying session. Our car was definitely very good in the dry but unfortunately it rained. We did show that we had the pace in the rain but obviously we would prefer it be dry. We’ve had so many races in the rain this year that it gets old after a while. I would prefer to have a dry race and have some close racing. The track is a ton of fun; it’s probably the best track we’ve been to but it’s going to be difficult if not impossible to pass so it’s critical to qualify well. It was tough for me to come to grips with the car on the circuit in the rain. At first, I kind of psyched myself out and told myself it was going to be really slippery in the rain because yesterday on the track walk you got the sense that with only a little mist it was going to be slick. I think Justin ran a new set of rain tires at the end but we ran the same ones the whole session. At the end the car performed very well and I felt I had pretty good grip on the circuit. I’m pretty happy with how this whole day has gone. We started the weekend off right.” FAST FACTS: Will be his second Champ Car race in Europe. Finished third in Belgium last weekend...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 THREE races in Europe (Bourdais – Lausitz, Germany &Brands Hatch, England in 2003 & Belgium 2007) and TWO poles (Bourdais – Germany 2003, Belgium 2007). They have earned a total of SEVEN podiums in Europe (2nd – Junqueira, Brands Hatch, UK 2003 & Cristiano da Matta, Rockingham, UK 2002; 3rd – da Matta, Rockingham 2001 & Rahal Belgium 2007). The series raced in Europe in 2001(Lausitz, Germany & Rockingham, England), 2002 (Rockingham, England) and 2003 (Brands Hatch, England & Lausitz, Germany). The morning practice will take place from 10:15-11:30 AM local time while final qualifying will begin at 2:00 PM.