Bruno Junqueira won his first race of 2003, and as a result is the new leader of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. With race day dominated by heavy rain, delays, red flags and difficult conditions, Junqueira didn't put a foot wrong, and leaves Elkhart Lake with a maximum 23 point score, and moves three points clear of Paul Tracy in the Championship.

"The race was very difficult, because the track was damp," said Junqueira. "I think CART made a good decision not to start the race earlier. For me and Sebastien it was OK, but we were at the front. For the people at the back I don't think they could see much because of the spray. "There's still a long way to go in the championship, but there's nothing better than to have a perfect weekend, 23 points, pole on both days, lead all laps, and here at my favorite race track, Road America."

Former series leader Tracy crashed out on the third restart, locking the rear tires and hitting the tire wall to mark only his second retirement of the season. "I made a move but locked the tires and went into the gravel," said Tracy. "I tried to power through, put it just drew me into the tires. It's disappointing, but it was my fault."

Sebastien Bourdais was second, the French rookie looking to threaten his Newman/Haas Racing team mate in the closing stages, but deciding to stick where he was in the difficult conditions.

Third was Alex Tagliani, the Canadian making up for Friday's disappointment for the RocketSports Team, when a crash destroyed their primary car. From 13th on the grid Tagliani kept it on the island. "We had a good car in the wet, and I was getting a little bit nervous when the jet driers were out. But it was OK. I just had to make sure I made no mistakes."

In fourth was Max Papis, a team-best result for PK Racing, and one that lifted the spirits of the rookie teamThis is a fantastic result said PapisWhat I can say is the team did a fabulous job on pit stops and after that I just drove like hell. On days like this your true character comes out, and today we had a great performance. Today was about patience and persistence and never giving up. I want to thank Mauricio (Gugelmin) and Russ Cameron, they helped me keep my focus today under really difficult circumstances and then the Italian genetics proved to be superior in the race

Patrick Carpentier filled the top five for Player's/Forsythe, passing Darren Manning out of the final corner on the drag to the finish line after the Brit lost third gear with two laps to go when he was looking good for a fourth place finish.

There's no rest for the Champ Car teams, as they head to Mid-Ohio for round 13 of the championship this weekend. The title battle is getting more

Courtesy of cart.com