Sebastien Bourdais may have produced the drive of the season in Denver, but all that counted for nothing last time out in Montreal where a DNF saw the Frenchman's lead at the top of the Champ Car World Series almost halved.
Victory in Canada for Bruno Junqueira saw the gap at the top drop from 58 points down to 34 after contact part way through the race forced Bourdais to drop out.
Having put himself firmly back in the title hunt, the Brazilian will be chasing another strong result this weekend, on a circuit where he was a hard-fought runner-up a year ago after starting second. He has finished seventh or better in each of his three starts at the Monterey track.
In 2003, he ran second to Patrick Carpentier, chasing the Canadian to no avail all day long. Carpentier led from flag-to-flag last year, leading all 87 laps to take his fourth career victory. He also improved his title hopes in Montreal, a second place finish giving him his third podium of the year to move into a tie for fourth place in the standings. The Forsythe Championship Racing driver is another who has done well on the tricky Laguna layout in the past, finishing in the top ten in four of the last five seasons. His resume also includes a Toyota Atlantic victory in 1996 where he won from pole.
Bourdais does not have much in the way of previous Laguna success to fall back on, having finished 17th a year ago after mechanical troubles ended his day, but he hasn't let history stand in his way so far this season. The French star already has six poles to his credit and could possibly break the series single-season record of nine, currently held by Danny Sullivan. He has led laps in each of the last seven races, the longest streak since Cristiano da Matta paced nine straight races in his championship season of 2002 and his five wins through 10 races has him within reach of the single-season record for victories, currently shard by Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr who won eight.
Carpentier is one of three active drivers that have taken Champ Car wins at Laguna Seca, one of them being his teammate Paul Tracy. Defending series champion Tracy was the dominant driver in Laguna victories in 1993 and 94, leading 165 combined laps in the two races. Those laps would be the last that he would lead in the next nine seasons though as the 2003 series champion has found it an uphill climb to get back to the top of the podium. Tracy started and finished third last year and has three top-four finishes since his 1994 victory. His fourth-place finish in Montreal allowed him to close the gap to the Bourdais as he attempts to become the first driver since Gil de Ferran to claim back-to-back Champ Car titles.
The other driver to have tasted victory at Laguna comes off a record-setting day in Montreal. Jimmy Vasser broke the record for consecutive series starts two weeks ago when he took the green flag for the 193rd straight event. Vasser scored his Laguna victory in 1997, and has finished in the top eight in each of the last four starts.
Mario Dominguez also thrust himself back into the thick of the points chase with a podium finish in Montreal. However he will look for an improvement on previous visits to Laguna where he has finished 10th and 15th in his previous two starts. His recent string of success has seen him move to within 28 points of the third spot in the hunt for the title as the season hits the homestretch.
Alex Tagliani will also have to improve his Laguna history if he is to continue his championship charge. The winner at Road America, Tagliani is tied with Carpentier for fourth place in the points and has collected seven consecutive top-ten finishes. However, he only has one top-ten finish in his four Champ Car starts on the Laguna circuit, although he did score a podium finish in one of his four Toyota Atlantic starts before ascending to the Champ Car ranks. Tagliani does lead the series in laps completed and is the only driver to have finished each of the 10 races this season.
