Champ’s top drivers test in Vegas

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

SUN WIRE SERVICES

Defending Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Wednesday in preparation for the Sept. 24 Double Down in the Desert NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series-Champ Car World Series doubleheader.

Bourdais and Tracy finished first and second, respectively in last weekend's event in San Jose, and occupy the same places in the current point standings. Bourdais won the inaugural Champ Car World Series Bridgestone 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last September.

"When we came back in September last year (after testing in August), it wasn't any cooler," Bourdais said. "When we tested last year, the sun was burning hot and it was something like 110 degrees. Today it is 90 or 95. I guess it's a pretty average temperature for Las Vegas. It's in the ballpark, that's for sure.

"Today is just a tire test. We are evaluating tires for Bridgestone. They came out with a different compound. They are manufacturing the tire in a different place now and they want to make sure nothing is different in the compound. The tire at this year's (Las Vegas) race is going to be a different tire. Last year's tire was manufactured in Japan and this year's is manufactured in the U.S."

Although Bourdais has three victories to date - Long Beach, Edmonton and San Jose -- he describes his 2006 season as "average."

"Well, (the season) was pretty average until Edmonton. We were still leading the championship at that point and that was kind of a surprise. Then we came out of Edmonton looking pretty good after a lot of mistakes early in the week in qualifying. We were able to make up for it. San Jose was a pretty good weekend for us. We had a strong car and ran up front all weekend long. It was good to dominate again."