Two's up for Bourdais

Frenchman Bourdais, 28, moved into first place on lap 14 and came home 4.818 seconds ahead of his rookie team-mate Graham Rahal – who made it a tremendous one-two finish for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

"It feels really good to be back at the top here," said Bourdais. "After a great weekend at Long Beach, you know, the first 1-2 with Graham, it has been a long time for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

"It was a pretty eventful race. I have to say it wasn't easy. We've got, I think, quite a few things to look at the car because towards the end, it wasn't the same car as the beginning. So I'm just glad it turned out all right. You know, very happy for all the crew."

Bourdais made a slightly better start then pole-sitter Will Power, getting alongside the team Australia driver into the first chicane, and then taking the lead by cutting across the corner rather than going around it.

NHL immediately told him to cede the position to avoid a penalty, but by that time Justin Wilson had already passed Power for second, meaning he became the new leader in his RSPORTS machine.

Wilson and Bourdais settled into a rhythm early on with the Frenchman biding his time before out-braking last season's runner up with a clean move –ironically at the chicane again - on lap 14.

Save for during the pit-stops, he never lost the lead after that and went on to take his 25th career win – a result that saw him leap up from third to first in the championship – five points ahead of former leader Power.

Oriol Servia, who finished second at Long Beach last weekend, was once again Bourdais' biggest challenger for most of the race, running within two seconds of three-time champion for over half of the duration.

But his challenge was broken during his final pit-stop when his Forsythe Racing team-mate Mario Dominguez pulled in for his service right in front of the Spaniard, blocking him and costing him over eight seconds.

That allowed Rahal, who had a pretty quiet race, into second, where he remained until the finish. In coming second, the 18-year-old American became the youngest podium-finisher in ChampCar history – breaking Andrew Ranger's record that has stood for over two years.

Another rookie Robert Doornbos completed the podium for Minardi with Servia fourth and Simon Pagenaud fifth for Team Australia, recovering after a broken tyre valve forced him to pit to change a punctured tyre on lap four.

Dominguez was sixth with Bruno Junqueira seventh for Dale Coyne Racing and British driver Ryan Dalziel taking the best finish of his ChampCar career in eighth for Pacific Coast.

RSPORTS driver Alex Tagliani, who started the race second in the championship, had a terrible day with two different refuelling rig problems forcing him to make five pit-stops on his way to ninth.

But that was still one place ahead of his team-mate Justin Wilson, who spun after contact with Power on lap 55 and finished tenth.

Power was one place further back in his Team Australia car after suffering a refuelling problem, a broken &lsquopush-to-pass' button and a brush with Dominguez – and then the wall.

British drivers Katherine Legge (Dale Coyne) and Dan Clarke (Minardi) were both eliminated on the opening lap after contact with Neel Jani's PKV car, while the Swiss driver's team-mate Tristan Gommendy led for a while, courtesy of a bizarre strategy, but ran out of fuel seven laps from the end.