The Champ Car World Series reaches its half way point this weekend with the Grand Prix of Road America with the competition at the front of the field hotting up with every race.

Newman Haas driver Sebastien Bourdais heads the standings at the half way point of the season after a strong first half to the year. The Frenchman holds a 27 point lead in the title race after winning four of the first seven races, finishing in the top five on six occasions and qualifying no lower than third in the process.

Teammate Bruno Junqueira is currently the man in second in the standings, despite the fact he has yet to win a race in 2004. However a series of consistent performances, including four second places, have allowed him to put together a realistic title challenge.

The Brazilian has been the man to beat at Road America over the last few years, scoring a podium finish in the last three seasons, winning the event in 2003.

Racing in his native Canada in the last two rounds has done defending champion Paul Tracy the world of good as he searches for back to back titles.

Victory in Vancouver sees the Forysthe Racing driver hunting down the Newman Haas pair as he heads to a circuit where he has won three times in the past – although he hasn't finished in the top ten since finishing on the podium in 2000.

Patrick Carpentier will hope to use Road America to maintain his current fourth place in the standings despite meeting a foul end in Vancouver two weeks ago. Carpentier had a potential podium run vanish in a hail of carbon fiber in a Turn One crash, but hopes to rebound by continuing his recent trend of good runs in Elkhart Lake.

The Rocketsports Racing squad will aim to follow its successful June test with a strong finish on race day as Alex Tagliani brings a two-race Road America podium streak to the weekend. Tagliani made up 10 spots to finish third last year and followed former champion Cristiano da Matta to a second-place result in 2002. Tagliani is just one of two drivers to have finished each of the year's first seven events.

The other driver to have done the feat is Ryan Hunter-Reay. Despite leading the series in terms of laps completed, Hunter-Reay is down in sixth in the standings having failed to finish higher than eighth since winning the third round of the year in Milwaukee back in June.

After Justin Wilson was hit by numerous problems in Vancouver, A.J. Allmendinger has established a lead at the top of the rookie of the year standings. After collecting his first Champ Car podium in the last round, Allmendinger will be out to increase his lead over the former Formula One man.

Rocketsports Racing introduces a new face to the series this weekend with the introduction of sportscar star Guy Smith for the rest of the season. He follows Nelson Philippe and Memo Gidley by stepping into the #17 Lola after Gidley was forced to step down due to prior commitments. Road America will see the Brit return to single-seater competition after a highly successful road racing career, which saw him form part of the winning team in last years Le Mans 24 hour race for Bentley, and finish on the podium in the 2004 event for the Audi UK team.

He will aim to follow the success he had in the Indy Lights series, where he was Rookie of the Year in 1998.