Bourdais stripped of Houston pole

UPDATE #2 Also penalized was Alex Tagliani, who re-entered the track in an unsafe fashion after “missing" the Turn Two chicane during the session much like Paul Tracy did to Tagliani at San Jose last year.

“The penalty against Sebastien was due to interference between the No. 1 and No. 5 (Will Power) car," said Tony Cotman, Champ Car race director and vice president of operations. “The No. 1 car was running slowly through a segment of the track. The No. 5 car was up to speed and had to slow down because of the No. 1 car, in my opinion.

“The No. 1 car let the No. 9 car (Justin Wilson) and the No. 3 car (Oriol Servia) by, then went back on line as car No. 5 arrived," Cotman continued. “In those segments the No. 1 car was off the pace by around 2.5 seconds. If it was a matter of two or three tenths of a second, that would be one thing. But when it’s 2.5 seconds you need to be considerate of the other drivers. It’s a judgment call on my part, but it’s a judgment call in which I used judgment, video replays and data records."

04/21/07 Champ Car officials took away Sebastien Bourdais’ fastest lap time in final qualifying after ruling that he interfered in a qualifying lap of Team Australia driver Will Power. His second fastest lap time earned him a second place starting spot on the grid for the Grand Prix of Houston. We hear that Tagliani pulled out in front of Neel Jani and he may lose his fast lap too…..

Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “I think I am the kind of guy that admits when I have done something wrong and I do not think this is the case. The only reason why Walker protested is because they saw the potential that they could nail us, not because they were quicker because they were slow on that lap. It would not have changed the outcome whether I interfered on that lap, tried to or tried to get out of the way or anything. They don’t care about that. It’s just like a payback that goes on and on and on. If they can nail us they are just going to nail us. They protested and Champ Car ruled in their favor but the truth is the only reason they protested is because they could nail us. That lap would not have changed the outcome of qualifying."

Brian Lisles, General Manager of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing: “Qualifying on street courses is always difficult, there is always a lot of traffic. In final qualifying Sebastien had at least three laps that should have been three or four tenths quicker than his pole position lap but he ran into traffic and had to back off. It’s really most unfortunate but Champ Car has decided to take away Sebastien’s fastest lap. For instance, not only did Sebastien lose at least two or three better laps than the one he managed to get in but Graham was held up on his last lap by a couple of cars on the last couple of corners and we’re sure that lap was much quicker than he took his grid position with."

04/21/07 Sebastien Bourdais has been stripped of his pole position in Houston due to blocking. His fastest lap was taken away and this moves Will Power up to pole position. We will have more details shortly……

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