Cleveland, July 07: CART rookie Sebastian Bourdais took the checkered flag just ahead of Paul Tracy to collect his third victory of the 2003 season at the Cleveland Grand Prix. Rookie Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais survived a collision with Adrian Fernandez with four laps to go to win the Cleveland Grand Prix CART race under lights at the Burke Lakefront Airport Saturday. "It was a tough race," Bourdais told reporters after collecting his third victory of the season. He said the track was "very physical" because of the bumps at the airport. Bourdais, the polesitter, finished 2.241 seconds ahead of series leader Paul Tracy of Canada, with Brazil's Bruno Junqueira in third place. All three drove Lola Ford/Cosworths. Tracy took command in the opening turn of the race when he swept wide on a hairpin. But the Canadian was in front by just over a second when he and Bourdais made pit stops on lap 68, allowing American Jimmy Vasser to take the lead.


Bourdais's pit crew made quick work of changing the tyres and he was out faster than Tracy. When Vasser pitted on lap 83, Bourdais took a lead of 5.7 seconds over Tracy and Junqueira.


The Frenchman had an advantage of 11.6 seconds when he collided as he tried to lap Fernandez, the winner in Portland, Oregon, two weeks ago.


"I have no idea what happened," Bourdais said. "He just slipped and we came together."


Bourdais's car was damaged but he did not see that his left rear tyre was starting to shred. In the victory circle, Academy Award-winning actor Paul Newman, the team's co-owner, said: "Just look at that tyre!"


In the overall series, Tracy (117) extended his points lead over Junqueira (109). Mexico's Michel Jourdain is third with 97.


Bureau Report