Rookie Bourdais to Start From St. Pete Pole

St. PETERSBURG, Fla. February 22, 2003: The AP reported that Champ Car rookie Sebastien Bourdais is a quick study.

The 23-year-old Frenchman retained the top spot in Saturday's qualifying for the inaugural St. Petersburg Grand Prix, becoming the first CART driver since Nigel Mansell in 1993 to win a pole in his first race.

Bourdais now has a chance to become the first rookie since Mansell -- who came to Champ Cars as the reigning Formula One champion -- to win his first CART race.

"In Formula 3000 last year, you had no free practice before qualifying, so you had to adapt to conditions and to the track very quickly," said Bourdais, who won the 3000 championship. "With practice each day before qualifying (in Champ Car), it is easier to make the adjustments."

Bourdais took the provisional pole Friday and easily held it during the frustrating final round of qualifying, which was marred by five red-flag stoppages.

"It was a bit difficult to manage the red flags," Bourdais said. "But it was a perfect situation for us. We just saved the tires, and we're ready for the race."

He drove his Ford Cosworth-powered Newman/Haas Lola to a lap of 106.710 mph, a considerable improvement over his first-day lap of 105.415.

"For the moment, we are the really good car," Bourdais said. "I haven't had a big problem since we started Friday morning. It's so good to start the season this way after a long wait.

"I was not sure about getting a good ride this year, and now I'm there, in the U.S., and on the pole for the first race."

Teammate Bruno Junqueira, last year's Champ Car runner-up behind fellow Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, wasn't as happy as Bourdais after falling from second place on Friday to seventh. Junqueira improved to 105.291, which would have been good for fourth on the 19-car grid, but he lost his fast lap for causing one of the red flags.

"I couldn't get more than two laps in a row," Junqueira said. "It was pretty frustrating. I do have a fast car. Unfortunately, I could not show that in qualifying."

Oriol Servia, who was third on Friday, also caused a red flag and slipped to ninth. The Spaniard's lost lap would have placed him third.

Bourdais gets two points for leading qualifying on both days and will have a shot at 21 more points -- 20 for winning the race and one for leading the most laps -- in Sunday's 105-lap race on the 1.806-mile, 14-turn temporary circuit in downtown St. Petersburg.

Looking ahead to the season-opening race, the slim, bookish-looking youngster said, "Everybody's going to push as hard as possible, and it's going to be about two hours, a lot longer than I've been used to.

"It's probably going to be tough, especially the concentration. On a street course, you need great concentration, because if you make a small mistake, it's big consequences."

Paul Tracy, who along with Junqueira is a leading contender for the series title, recovered from Friday's engine problems to jump from 10th to second with a lap of 105.758.

"This is the kind of start I wanted with Team Player's," Tracy said. "Yesterday I was dejected, but I'm happy now."

"It could have been better than that," the Canadian driver added. "Everybody probably can say the same thing, but it seemed like every time I was on my fast lap, the red came out. My fast lap was a warmup lap."

Starting third will be Adrian Fernandez, who's competing for the first time since fracturing two vertebrae in his neck during a crash in Australia, three races from the end of last season.

"It's getting better," said Fernandez, the only owner-driver in the series. "I'm not where I want to be yet, but it's good to be back in the car. I was just trying to take it easy out there and not make any mistakes."

Patrick Carpentier, Tracy's teammate, was fourth (105.274 mph), followed by Michel Jourdain Jr. (105.183), rookie Mario Haberfeld (105.093), Junqueira and Jimmy Vasser (104.875).

Vasser, a former series champion, and rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay are the only Americans in the series this season. They're teammates with American Spirit Racing, one of five new CART teams for 2003.