2004 Champ Car World Series Champion nominated for Speed Channel driver of the quarter source: champcarworldseries.com Sebastien Bourdais finished the season in style winning from pole in the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford's season finale in Mexico City and is now being recognized for his successful 2004 Champ Car season-end campaign by being nominated for the SPEED Channel Driver of the Quarter. The 2004 Series Champion demonstrated astonishing on-track performances en route to his first Champ Car title. He was the leader in poles, laps led, and victories in 2004. Scoring eight poles, Bourdais went on to win five of his seven victories from the pole position. The flying Frenchman took the lead in 11 out of 14 races this season producing a total of 443 laps led. Bourdais stood on the podium ten times this year. When he was not on the pole at the start of a race, he was in the top three. The 2003 Rookie-of-the-Year started on the front row in 11 out of 14 races, making 15 consecutive top-three starts in only his sophomore year. Born in Le Mans, France, the 25 year-old pilot also competed in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race in June of 2004 and is scheduled to compete amongst the latest title holders from all avenues of motorsports across the world in the Race of Champions - Nations Cup at the Stade de France in Paris in December. Racing fans of all disciplines recognized Bourdais for his furious climb to the top as he was voted as the Driver of the Quarter for the third quarter of the 2004 season, winning the fan vote ahead of seven other nominees for the honor. Despite winning the fan vote, he finished second in the overall ballot. "I think that it is great to get nominated again for the second time for this award," said Bourdais on his nomination for the fourth-quarter voting. "A big part of it comes from the accomplishments of the Newman/Haas Racing team; thanks to having such a great crew with the McDonald's team, I was able to have such a great year. It was a very nice surprise to have won the fan vote during the third quarter amongst all of the other popular nominees. It goes to show that people are watching Champ Car and that is great! It shall be very interesting to see how the vote pans out this time around, I am very excited." This time around, Bourdais is running against NASCAR's Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR Busch Series driver Martin Truex Jr., Tony Schumacher from the NHRA, Steve Kinser from the World of Outlaws, and IRL driver Tony Kanaan. In its 38th year, the Driver of the Year award will be determined by an independent vote of an 18-member panel of blue ribbon auto racing journalists and broadcasters and one vote based on a cumulative tally by fans voting online. Be sure to vote for the 2004 Champ Car World Series Champ Sebastien Bourdais
by logging on to
www.speedtv.com. Fan voting for the 4th Quarter 2004 Speed Channel Driver of
the Year will take place online until Noon ET on Wednesday, November 24. The
winner will be announced exclusively on Speed News November 28 at 7 p.m. ET.
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