Sebastien Bourdais continues etching his name deeper into the Champ Car record book, opening the 2006 season with his third consecutive win as he attempts to become only the second driver to win three straight season championships. It also marked the fifth win for Newman/Haas Racing in six tries at Monterrey. source: champcarworldseries.com Bourdais stated a preference earlier in the race weekend for the Bridgestone Potenza alternate tires (with the softer compound formula and bright red sidewalls), but it was a race stint on the black-sidewall standard Potenzas that clinched the victory for the Frenchman. On his middle stint, Bourdais used the standard Potenzas and ran a lap longer than race leader Justin Wilson of RuSPORT. The extra lap, coupled with the slightly shorter pit stop that followed, allowed Bourdais to return to the track ahead of Wilson and A.J. Allmendinger, and he drove off to his 19th career victory in just 48 Champ Car starts. * From Sebastien Bourdais, McDonald's Ford/Lola/Bridgestone: "There was a little bit more speed in the Bridgestone alternate tires, but it was a bit of a rough gain as they were fading off some in the last 10 laps of the stint. The alternate tires definitely gave us great grip, but you could see I was catching up with both Justin and A.J. at the end of the second stint when I was on the standard Potenzas. So it was quite an exciting race." * From A.J. Allmendinger, RuSPORT Ford/Lola/Bridgestone: "Great job by Bridgestone. They brought a great tire, especially for the heat, and you know they had to hold up to the task today doing so many green flag laps. It was a good day." * Bridgestone Tire Performance Summary: Bridgestone Motorsport brought a pair of new dry-condition specifications to Monterrey, for the standard and alternate tires. Each car had six sets of the standard-spec and two sets of the alternate-spec tires available this weekend. Per Champ Car rules, each car was required to run at least one set of each tire spec during the race. * From Joe Barbieri, Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport: "It was a demanding weekend for the drivers, teams and equipment alike, but we're proud of the way the Bridgestone tires performed in the heat. Sebastien alluded to the alternate Potenzas being quicker but giving up a bit at the end of the run, but that just means they performed exactly as designed. It's the trade-off teams accept when they choose to run the alternates. The consistency of the standard Potenzas helped Sebastien keep the heat on the RuSPORT cars in that second stint, and allowed him to go that critical extra lap before the pit stop that put him in front for good." Race session temperatures ranged from 130 to 136 degrees track and from 80 to 88 degrees ambient (F). Race session temperatures ranged from 54 to 58 degrees track and from 27 to 31 degrees ambient (C).
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