LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX: THE SEBASTIEN WALK: BOURDAIS DOMINATES GP WINS L.B. RACE BY 14 SECONDS.

Byline: Bob Keisser Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - Sebastien Bourdais was worried.

No one else in Long Beach possibly have imagined why, not the 80,000 watching the 32nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach along Shoreline Drive or anyone viewing the network telecast.

The thin 27-year-old from Le Mans was dominating the field at the annual street race as if he was driving a Long Beach police car and everyone else was pulled off to the side in the case of Paul Tracy and three others, literally, not figuratively.

But this being racing, the two-time defending Champ Car World Series winner was concerned that something would go wrong, and that his massive lead on Brit Justin Wilson, history-making Katherine Legge and the rest of a reeling, holding-on-for-dear-life field would suddenly disappear.

"I kept thinking `What's going to go wrong?"' the Frenchman said after his 14-second rout of Wilson and 16 other drivers, giving him his second consecutive Long Beach title. "Everything was going too well.

"I've been in this situation before, and so might things can go wrong. Re-starts are always iffy. On a street course, anything can happen. I was never worried about (my car's) performance. But I can make mistakes, too. I'm not perfect."

One could argue that point.

The only thing stopping Bourdais on Sunday was the yellow flag. Five cautions allowed the field to momentarily bunch up behind him. In most every case, a seven-to-eight second edge on Wilson was briefly cut to a couple of Champ Car lengths and he had to go through the whole process of again drawing away.

"It got a little frustrating," Bourdais said. "Every time I would get a yellow, I would have to say `Do it again.' But the car was awesome. I couldn't have looked for anything to be better. It was perfect from beginning to end."

Thanks to winning the poll, Bourdais was able to avoid the carnage behind him on turn one of the first lap that claimed four of his top competitors, Tracy, Newman/Haas teammate Bruno Junqueira, A.J. Allmendinger and Oriol Servia.

He led for all but four of the 74 laps, losing those four only because of pit timing. The only time he had a car in front of him all day was when he was about to lap someone. Several times, he looked in his rear view mirror and the only thing he could see was the Long Beach skyline.

He turned in his fastest lap of the day (1:07.931) on his 71st, indicating just how strong his car was Sunday. "I just wanted to see if I could turn in a 67-second lap."

"I'd get two within two seconds of him out of a restart, but no closer," Wilson. "With about eight laps to go, I lost sight of him. Of course, I hoped he was in the pits."

Besides being Bourdais second straight win here, it was his 17th career win, tying him for 20th place all-time in Champ Car annals, and in just 46career starts, too. It was his sixth win in his past eight starts, and it gives his race team, Newman/Haas, 32 wins in the past 67 Champ Car races.

"It was a perfect weekend," Bourdais said. "No drama."

There was drama Sunday, just not for the winner.

From a historical perspective, Legge had a dramatic Champ Car debut. The first woman to start a Champ Car race since Lyn St. James in 1995, she finished eighth, the highest finish ever for a woman in the series.

Starting from the 17th spot in the field, she moved up to midway through the race before spinning sideways in Turn 5. That dropped her to 12th in the field on the restart, but she aggressively drove the last 20 laps, posting her fastest lap (1:09.289) on Lap 67, and moved up to eighth.

"I'm a racer and you always want to do better," Legge said. "For me, the record is great but the less of a female novelty that this thing becomes, the better. I'm just trying to be a race car driver and do what these guys do."

Legge's spin was nothing compared to the meltdown suffered on the first turn seconds into the race.

Tracy, starting sixth, moved aggressively past Junqueira (starting third), Allmendinger (fourth) and teammate Mario Dominguez (fifth) and had position going into the turn. But as the Forysthe driver braked, Dominguez behind him did not.

Dominguez made contact with Tracy's rear, lifting him into the air and sideways. His car clipped Junqueira's as it landed, who then collided with innocent bystanders Allmendinger and Servia, sending them into the tires and out of the race.

Alex Tagliani, who finished third, had the best view.

"I went left to go between Mario and the wall, but he blocked, so I put it in the middle behind Paul and figured he would be the best one to follow," the veteran driver for Team Australia said.

"And then I hit Turn 1 and said `Uh oh, maybe he's not the best one to follow.' I was able to tuck inside as Paul went onto the air and others guys flew by. I was very lucky that I got clear."

bob.keisser@presstelegram

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sebastien Bourdais drives the #1 Newman-Haas Racing Ford- Cosworth Lola on his way to winning the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

(2 -- color) France's Sebastien Bourdais, of St. Petersburg, Fla., celebrates his first-place finish Sunday in Long Beach.

Ric Francis/Associated Press

(3 -- color) Canada's Paul Tracy is lifted off the track by Spain's Oriol Servia (6) in a crash at Long Beach.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Box:

LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX RESULTS