Other Sports
Bourdais, Newman/Haas sweep front row in Denver
By The Source
Aug 15, 2004

Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Sebastien Bourdais earned his fifth pole of the season in the final qualifying session for Sunday's Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver Champ Car race.

The No.2 Newman/Haas Racing driver's lap of 59.942 seconds around the tight, nine-turn, 1.647-mile street course was a new track record. Bourdais was also the fastest qualifier on Friday when he registered a lap on 1:00.413.

"I'm really, really happy," said Bourdais. "We posted our best lap of the weekend at the right time."

The pole win earned the Frenchman his second championship point. He now owns a 49-point margin over teammate Bruno Junqueira (215-166) who won both the 2002 and 2003 events around the Pepsi Arena parking lot circuit.

It was Bourdais' ninth consecutive front row start of the season.

Starting on the front row with Bourdais will be Junqueira (1:00.525). Row two includes Paul Tracy (1:00.588) and Patrick Carpentier (1:00.595).

Mario Dominguez, who was second quickest (1:00.721) on Friday, suffered engine problems (turbo) during warmup and did not attempt a qualifying run.

The race is set to begin on Sunday at 3 p.m. (et).