For the first time in four seasons, the battle for the Champ Car World Series title will go to the year's final race as either Sebastien Bourdais or Bruno Junqueira will leave Mexico City as the 2004 Champ Car champion.
Both drivers have held the lead at one point or another during the 2004 season and both have had career-defining moments that have put them in position to win their first Champ Car titles, but it now comes down to 63 laps around the 2.786-mile Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit to determine who will claim the Vanderbilt Cup.
Bourdais is in the better position of the two, entering the season finale with a 22-point lead over his Newman Haas Racing stablemate. The series leader in wins, poles, qualifying average and laps led, Bourdais needs to finish ninth or better in Mexico City to clinch his first Champ Car title.
“We still have a strong shot at winning the championship but the McDonald's team really needs to finish (the race) in Mexico City,” he said. “We can't afford to have any mechanical failures or get caught up in an accident. It's going to be a scary start over there this year. I think we're going to improve our starting position hopefully and that could help us avoid an opening lap accident. We struggled in practice last year; we started with two completely different setups between Bruno and I because the team didn't really know what would be fast around there from the year before. It proved to be that Bruno's setup was faster so we merged to it and made some improvements for warmup on race day. I think if we can start the weekend with the baseline from last year we should be in pretty good shape for the event.”
Junqueira, who kept himself in the title hunt by turning in one of his strongest efforts ever to take victory in Surfers Paradise, will need to get up front early and hope for some help to avoid becoming the first driver since Johnny Rutherford to finish as the Champ Car runner-up in three consecutive seasons.
However he knows that he had his work cut out to take the title.
“For sure Sebastien will need to make a mistake or have a problem in Mexico City for the PacifiCare team to win the Championship,” he said. “Well done Newman Haas Racing for guaranteeing a one-two finish in the championship no matter what happens in Mexico City though. They did a good job this season. The PacifiCare team is going to work hard and be there in the front in Mexico City. If Sebastien has a problem, I'll be there to win the championship.
“The race in Mexico is going to decide the championship and it's going to be a really important weekend. We have to try to do our best and win the race. A lot of guys are going to take big risks to try to win the race since it's the last race and they have no chance to win the championship but it's the kind of thing you see throughout the year. Some guys just want to get good results in the races. The PacifiCare team wants to get a good result to give everything to try to win the championship.
Bourdais has used an unprecedented run of qualifying success to build his advantage as the second-year driver has started in the top three in each of the year's 13 races and has a series-record streak of 14 consecutive top-three starts dating back to the 2003 season. However, the Frenchman started fourth in last year's Mexico City event, marking the last Champ Car race where he has not started third or better. He did not let that starting spot ruin his day however, using a strong mid-race run to climb to second place for a finish that sealed the deal on his 2003 Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Junqueira also knows a little about running up front at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, winning the pole and finishing third in Champ Car's return to Mexico City in 2002. He started third a year ago but ended his day in the seventh spot. No such luxuries will be available to him this year if he wants to stay in the title hunt though, as every point is vital to his championship survival.
