After a six-week hiatus, the Champ Car World Series returns to action with this weekend's Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoor in the Pacific North-West.

During the break, the series has kept busy with a media tour to promote its European races and a test at another new addition, Circuit Mont-Tremblant, but everyone admits that they cannot wait to get back to competition.

Sebastien Bourdais ended the test on top of the timesheets, underlining his current superiority in the new Panoz which has seen the Newman/Haas Lanigan driver take victories in both Long Beach and Houston to vault to the head of the points table.

NHLR scored its 99th victory in Houston in April so is now chasing its 100th win in Portland, where Bourdais has always performed well, scoring three podium finishes in his last four visits - including a win in 2004. However comfortable he has appeared in recent races, though, Bourdais won't be counting out his competition.

Rookie team-mate Graham Rahal will also be looking to give NHLR its 100th victory, having become the youngest podium finisher in Champ Car history in Houston. Like his team-mate, Rahal had a very strong test at Portland and, having graduated from New Albany High School last weekend, will be able to concentrate on his racing. He is no stranger to success at Portland either, having sat on pole there last year in the Champ Car Atlantic Series and scored his first Star Mazda win in 2005.

After a promising start to the season, Team Australia's Will Power is turning to Portland International Raceway, where he scored the fastest lap of 2006, to regain some momentum after a disappointing Houston race. Having taken a first CCWS win in Las Vegas and a podium finish in Long Beach, round three was a weekend to forget for the Australian as a series of problems halted his efforts and slid him down into second place in the standings, three points behind Bourdais.

Team Australia team-mate Simon Pagenaud stepped into the limelight in Texas, having shown his speed in the opening two races, but endured a string of bad luck. The Frenchman, a friend of Bourdais', duly scored his best Champ Car result with a fifth place in the Lone Star state and will be looking to prove that it was no fluke this weekend.

While the likes of Power may have inherited the mantle of chief protagonist to Bourdais in recent weeks, the man who has made a living from being a thorn in the Frenchman's side returns to the fray this weekend.

Paul Tracy was forced to sit out the last two races because of a compression fracture in his lower back, suffered during Saturday morning practice in Long Beach, and is hungry for victory now finds himself 15th in the standings, 47 points behind the leader. The Canadian will have competition from within his Forsythe team, however, as his replacement, Oriol Servia, has been handed the #7 Panoz after strong on-track performances in Long Beach and Houston.