For a man who cut his racing teeth on the fabled road courses of Europe, Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) seems to have found a home on the superspeedway ovals that were born in North America. source: champcarworldseries.com Bourdais came into Saturday night's Champ Car Hurricane Relief 400 with wins in each of his two previous superspeedway starts, and made it 3-for-3 with a narrow victory on the high banks of the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bourdais outlasted Newman/Haas Racing teammate Oriol Servia (#2 PacifiCare Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) in the 166-lap event, beating him to the finish by 0.312 seconds to score his fifth victory of the season. Jimmy Vasser (#12 Gulfstream Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) earned his best finish of the year by placing third, climbing the podium for the 32nd time in his storied career. Bourdais paced 53 laps and won from the pole for the second time this season, but it was anything but easy as the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford points leader dodged a number of potential pitfalls on his way to Victory Lane. The Frenchman led from pole but only enjoyed the view from the front for seven laps as 2003 series champion Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) ripped through the field. Tracy, who started 14th, stormed through the ranks in the opening laps to gain 10 spots after just two trips around the LVMS oval. By Lap 7 he had overtaken Bourdais and would assume the top spot, remarkably only using his Cosworth Power-to-Pass one time in doing so. Tracy held the point for the next 33 laps, but was never clear of Bourdais by more than half a second while Servia and the surprising Bjorn Wirdheim (#4 HVM Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) stayed within easy reach. The order held until Lap 40 when the fuel needs called for the first round of pit stops. Tracy pitted first with Bourdais and Servia following one and two laps later respectively. It was just prior to this round of pit stops that Bourdais dodged another potential malady as his shock cover dislodged and came off the car on the front straight. The crew decided that it would take too long to replace the missing piece which ultimately failed to derail the points leader's charge. Tracy reclaimed the lead after the first round of stops cycled through, but would swap it with Bourdais on a couple of occasions during the stint, in a race that would ultimately see 11 lead changes between three drivers. Tracy and Bourdais battled fiercely through the next 30 laps with both cars running nose-to-tail after 200-mph lap after 200-mph lap.
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