Bourdais a repeat winner in Houston

HOUSTON – Sebastien Bourdais raced to his second straight Grand Prix of Houston victory Sunday and grabbed the inside track for his fourth consecutive Champ Car title.

The Frenchman earned his 25th career win in his 62nd start, continuing his unprecedented dominance of the circuit. Bourdais finished his second win of the season in style, turning his fastest lap (58.018 seconds) on his 93rd and final trip around the 1.69-mile circuit next to Reliant Stadium.

Bourdais has won 14 of his last 24 starts. With his victory Sunday, the 28-year-old star overtook points leader Will Power in the standings. Power, who started on the pole, damaged the nose wing on his car three times and finished 11th.

Bourdais got a little lucky at the end to secure the win.

He went for a pit stop on the 68th lap, while rookie Tristan Gommendy stayed on the track, gambling that he wouldn’t have to stop again for fuel.

But Gommendy ran out of gas on lap 87 and stalled as Bourdais glided past.

Bourdais cruised to the finish line from there with rookie Graham Rahal, his Newman/Haas/Lanigan teammate, protecting him in second place. The 18-year-old Rahal, who skipped his senior prom in Ohio to race in Houston, finished 4.819 seconds behind Bourdais and became the youngest driver in series history to earn a podium finish.

Robert Doornbos, another rookie, was third, 7.061 seconds behind the winner.