Sébastien Bourdais was only fourth fastest on Saturday but his top time from Friday secured him a front row beside his championship rival Power.

Tristan Gommendy will not take part in the race after suffering a back injury when he contacted the wall in Friday's qualification session.

Going into the race Sebastien Bourdais found himself in an unusual position: third place in the season points standings behind Robert Doornbos and Will Power.

Bourdais was forced to wait critical seconds for Katherine Legge to enter her pit stall and lost two positions.

At the end of the race Bourdais led Doornbos by 20 and Will Power by 25 in his drive for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Champ Car title.