Fourth pole of the season for Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais (#2 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) at first glance may resemble an accountant more than a world-class race-car driver, but the only thing the young Frenchman has been counting during this Champ Car World Series season is poles and wins

source: champcarworldseries.com

He stacked another pole onto his ever-growing pile Saturday as the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford points leader paced final qualifying with a best lap of 1:43.046 (141.420 mph) around the 4.048-mile Road America layout in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Heavy cloud cover greeted the Champ Car drivers at Road America Saturday and the threat of rain weighed heavily on the minds of the teams and drivers, prompting most of the cars to take the first opportunity to go out and post a fast lap. That was in direct opposition to the way Friday's session went as cars trickled out in two and threes, a strategy that ended up costing some drivers a shot at the pole as red flags interrupted the session on two occasions.

The rains stayed away throughout the session, but there were a pair of red-flag stoppages that played a part in the day's results. The first one of those came at the halfway point of the session when Mario Dominguez (#55 Herdez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) crashed in Turn 12, getting off course for the second consecutive day. The scarlet banner flew just seconds after Jimmy Vasser (#12 Gulfstream Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) flashed across the line to post a time of 1:43.374 (140.972 mph) - a time that vaulted him to the top of the speed sheets.

That time for the 12-year veteran would hold up for the next 10 minutes as everybody returned to action after the red flag. A number of drivers would climb into the third spot on the grid during that time including defending race winner Bruno Junqueira (#6 PacifiCare Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and the Forsythe Championship Racing duo of Patrick Carpentier (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and Paul Tracy (#1 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone).

The complete article at champcarworldseries.com