ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Sebastien Bourdais has won so many Champ Car races that the memories tend to blend together.
But the three-time series champion knew for certain heading into the Generac Power Weekend that he had never won at Road America, his favorite track in the United States.
Bourdais had finished second once and third twice in his three previous races at the challenging 4.048-mile road course. But quirky pit-stop rules and badly timed caution periods kept him from winning.
Boosted by the Formula One contract he finally has in his pocket, Bourdais managed to lead a race at Elkhart Lake on the last lap. He won Champ Car’s 53-lap tilt by 9.752 seconds over Dan Clarke of Minardi Team USA.
Making the day even better for more than 100 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing family members on hand at what the team considers its home track, rookie Graham Rahal landed on the podium with a third-place finish. It was NHLR’s 10th win at Road America since 1983.
“That was a great race for us, really sweet,” Bourdais said after averaging a record 127.481 miles per hour. “It was like a dream, with no yellows getting in way for once. I hope it wasn’t too boring for the fans.

CHEESE HEADS: Winner Sebastien Bourdais (center), second-place Dan Clarke (left) and Graham Rahal celebrate atop the podium. (CHAMP CAR PHOTO)

“We got it as a group,” Sebastien continued. “The McDonald’s team unloaded a really good car, and we made very few changes to it. It was a tough car to drive, but it was fast. It was fun to run hard all the time and not have to save much fuel at all.”
Bourdais’s recruitment by the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team for 2008 was announced on Friday, and he responded by taking the provisional pole with a .8-second margin. He increased the gap to more than 1.5 seconds over Will Power with a staggering one-minute 41.535-second pole lap on Saturday.
On Sunday, Sebastien led 51 of the 53 laps, with Clarke pacing the other two through an alternate pit-stop sequence. The only caution period (of three laps) came on the first lap, when Power’s Team Australia teammate Simon Pagenaud triggered a three-car clash that swept in Paul Tracy and Ryan Dalziel. All continued.
Robert Doornbos kept Bourdais under pressure during the first 14-lap stint, when most drivers struggled with the red-sidewall alternate Bridgestone tires. Once on the standard black-sidewall tires, the Newman/Haas/Lanigan car started to creep away.
Rahal passed Doornbos for second place on the 24th lap, and next time by, Clarke repeated the move exiting turn three. But two corners later, Doornbos cannoned into the back of his teammate, and he had to pit for repairs that ultimately cost him three laps while Clarke continued.
Bourdais stretched his lead to 5.6 seconds over Rahal after the second round of stops on lap 28. The American teenager maintained the gap to his senior team leader through the next round of stops, but he used more fuel and came in on lap 40.
Bourdais stopped on lap 42 and emerged with an eight-second lead over Clarke that he allowed to drop to 4.5 seconds before opening it back up. He ran the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap.
“Once we had new tires on the car and were done with the pit stops, I was confident we could do it,” Bourdais said. “I’m happy to be rewarded, and glad it’s over and done. Now I want to put the fourth championship on top of the three we got. The team really deserves it. They are impeccable, and they are doing everything right.”
Bourdais extended his championship lead to 37 points over Doornbos, 53 points over Power (who retired after 25 laps with his car jammed in fourth gear) and 60 points over eighth-place finisher Justin Wilson.
“The race for second in the championship is still on, very much so,” Power said. “But I think you can say now that Sebastien has pretty much won the title. He’d have to have a pretty big screw-up not to finish it off, especially with such a great team behind him. They’ve got everything sorted.”