Monterrey, Mexico — As the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford competes at Fundidora Park, in Monterrey, Mexico, this weekend for the Tecate/Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix, it’s time to take a look at some of Champ Car’s drivers who could make some moves in Sunday’s race.

WHO’S HOT
The 2004 Champ Car champion, Sébastien Bourdais, picked up where he left off in 2004, coming from fourth place on the grid to win the season-opening Grand Prix of Long Beach for the 11th win of his career.

Teammate to Bourdais, Bruno Junqueira ran up front all day in Long Beach and came home in the third spot, extending his streak to seven-consecutive podium finishes dating back to the end of the 2004 season. He is one of just 11 drivers in series history to score seven-consecutive podium finishes.

Monterrey by the Numbers

84 – Number of laps led by Cristiano da Matta in his two Monterrey wins—the most by a Champ Car driver 69 – Number of laps led by Paul Tracy in his 2003 win, a single-event record for Monterrey 15 – Starting spot of the only Monterrey podium finisher ever to have started outside the top five (Tracy, 2001) Nine – Number of the most lead changes in a Monterrey event (2004) Six – Highest number of different race leaders in a Monterrey race (2002, 2004) Five - Deepest starting spot to have yielded a Monterrey winner (da Matta, 2002) Three – Number of times the winner in Monterrey has gone on to win the championship; also the number of rookies who have led race laps in Monterrey. One – Number of times the race has been won from the pole position (Bourdais, 2004)

The 2003 series champion, Paul Tracy, showed that he is ready to back up his quotes about taking back the Vanderbilt Cup in 2005. The veteran scored the 23rd pole of his career by leading Long Beach qualifying and he paced 23 laps en route to a second-place finish in the race.

Justin Wilson celebrated his move to RuSport for 2005 by matching his career-best finish in his first trip with the Colorado-based team. The big Englishman qualified fifth and came home a strong fourth in the season opener, and also scored an extra championship point by leading a lap in the race.

Popular Mexican pilot Mario Dominguez also celebrated an offseason move with a strong performance. The fourth-year driver qualified third in his first race with Forsythe Championship Racing and finished fifth in Long Beach for the third straight season.

Champ Car welcomed its share of rookies in the 2005 season opener, but none had a better day than Timo Glock. The German qualified sixth for his first Champ Car race and stayed in the hunt all day, eventually finishing sixth. The result put him atop the standings for the series’ Rookie-of-the-Year title.

Former Atlantic Series competitor Ronnie Bremer had an equally impressive Champ Car debut in Long Beach, finishing seventh and leading two laps. Bremer became the first series rookie to lead a lap in his debut since Bourdais turned the trick by pacing the field in his 2003 debut on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK
The 2002 series champion, Cristiano da Matta, returns to the same Fundidora Park layout where he posted wins in the first two series visits to Monterrey. Da Matta won from the outside of the front row in 2001 and came from fifth to win in 2002.

Bourdais has scored back-to-back poles in Monterrey heading into the 2005 event. If he wins the pole for this year’s event, he will be the first driver since Rick Mears (1989-91) to win three-consecutive poles at a track currently on the Champ Car schedule.

Tracy enters this year’s Monterrey race as the holder of the event record for most laps led in a race. The Canadian led 69 trips around the 2.104-mile course in taking his 2003 victory.

Alex Tagliani is one of six drivers that have competed in each of the four previous Champ Car races in Monterrey, but is the only one of those drivers to have finished in the top five on three separate occasions. Tagliani has scored three-consecutive top-five runs in Monterrey including a podium finish of third in 2003.

DID YOU KNOW?
Fundidora Park, which has hosted the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford for the last four seasons, is the site of the very first foundry for steel making in Latin America. The foundry shut down years ago, but gained new life and fame in 2001 when it emerged as the centerpiece of the park. One hundred twenty-seven pieces of steel-making equipment dot the grounds, as do the buildings that once housed one of the giants of the Mexican steel industry. Three museums, a concert stage and a 17,000-seat arena are also on the grounds of the park.

NOTEWORTHY
This year’s Champ Car field will feature four past Champ Car World Series champions. The 2004 champ Bourdais, 2003 champ Tracy, 2002 champ Cristiano da Matta, and 1996 champ Jimmy Vasser will compete against one another and 14 other drivers in a battle to reclaim the ultimate prize, the Vanderbilt Cup.

Da Matta returns to Fundidora Park after two years away in Formula One competition, in essence returning as a two-time defending race champion. The Brazilian won the Monterrey race in 2001 and 2002 before jetting off to F-1.

The 2.104-mile temporary layout in Fundidora Park will host the Champ Cars for the fifth time with this year’s edition of the event. Six drivers in this year’s field have the distinction of competing in all five events including 2003 winner Tracy, Vasser, Tagliani, Oriol Servia, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Junqueira.

Of the 19 expected starters at Fundidora Park, only two will be making their first-ever trip to the facility. Rookies Timo Glock and Marcus Marshall will be making their Mexican debut in 2005. Fellow rookies Ronnie Bremer and Andrew Ranger competed in last year’s Atlantic Series event on the 2.106-mile road course.

Contributed by Champ Car World Series News Bureau