Four-time Champ Car World Series title winner
Sebastien Bourdais has tipped his Newman Haas Lanigan Racing replacement Justin Wilson as the man to beat during the 2008 season.
The series will crown a new champion for the first time since 2003 after Bourdais – title winner from 2004-07 – switched to
Formula 1 with Toro Rosso, with a number of drivers looking to fill the gap vacated by the Frenchman's move.
Wilson is being viewed amongst the favourites for the crown having been Bourdais' closest rival in recent seasons, while the likes of Rahal, Will Power and Oriol Servia are also expected to challenge for honours.
However it was former RuSPORT pilot Wilson who Bourdais said would be the logical choice for champion.
"Speaking of Champ Car, I thought I would give you my predictions for the 2008 Champ Car season," he told the official Champ Car website. "I think the logical choice to win the Championship this year is Justin because he has been runner up for the last couple of years.
"I think Will is quite an obvious choice also. He was very strong all season last year and if not for a few problems he would have probably been our main competition up until the last race."
However, Bourdais added that a number of other drivers could also take his crown, with former team-mate Bruno Junqueira being tipped as a possible surprise package.
"I think these are the two main ones but you can't count out Robert [Doornbos], he was putting on some pretty strong performances," he said. "He just needs to qualify a bit better than what he did, and Graham, he did quite well especially at the end of the season. In my opinion a lot of guys can contend. Not to forget Oriol. In the PKV car he can do really, really well. In the last two races he was a winning contender.
"We also have to see where Bruno ends up. It seems that the DP01 suits him very well and I think he might be the surprise of 2008."
