Arguably no driver is as closely associated with the Ford-powered Lola B02/00 Champ Car chassis as Sebastien Bourdais. In its five seasons of competition, two of which as Champ Car became a de-facto single-make category following the disappearance of Reynard from the US open-wheel series by 2005, the Frenchman won three titles on the bounce and made Formula 1 realise what it had missed out on.
From 59 starts with the Lola, before it was replaced for 2007 by the Panoz DP01 in which Bourdais won his fourth and final Indycar title, he racked up 23 wins, 25 poles and 26 fastest laps. His 42 top-five finishes in a car that he picks out as his favourite underlines another key asset in Bourdais’s title-winning arsenal. He was incredibly consistent once settled into a Newman-Haas Racing team which had won the 2002 title with Cristiano da Matta before the Brazilian’s switch to F1 with Toyota.
Bourdais also has fond memories of the Panoz, specifically citing the 2007 Road America race he won after taking pole by 1.5s where he “was just absolutely on rails” and felt able to “do what you want with the car, and you don’t even really think about it, it just happens”. But he says the Lola on street courses that made up a large portion of the Champ Car schedule “really sticks out for me”.
“I had some really magical moments,” says Bourdais, now a staple of Cadillac’s GTP programme in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. “I think the [Bridgestone] tyre fitted me in general extremely well. There are some things that just fit your driving style. It was somewhat less sensitive to ride-height than most flat-bottom cars and fitted my driving style incredibly well.”
Bourdais had faced the prospect of racing for Opel in the 2003 DTM if a Champ Car opportunity hadn’t come knocking, but after impressing NHR in a try-out the reigning Formula 3000 champion quickly proved a sensation. Joining former Ganassi driver and 2002 runner-up Bruno Junqueira, he became the first rookie since Nigel Mansell in 1993 to claim a debut pole at St Petersburg. To prove it was no fluke, he did it again next time out at Monterrey, although mistakes led to lowly positions.
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A breakthrough win came at Brands Hatch in just his fourth start, before Bourdais sensationally won his very first oval race at Lausitzring.
Source: Autosport