After three exciting Canadian races that saw the Team Australia duo of Simon Pagenaud and Will Power take home the Champ Car Canadian Triple Crown, the Champ Car World Series is heading back to the United States for a two race swing before packing things up and moving to Europe for a couple of races. This weekend, the stars of Champ Car will be battling it out at the San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway in Round nine of the 2007 Champ Car World Series schedule.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais will be looking to continue his victorious streak in the heart of Silicon Valley as well as increase the lead he gained in the championship at last weekend’s Grand Prix of Edmonton. With one of his best performances this season, the Frenchman reclaimed his position atop the standings and built himself a 20 point lead over Robert Doornbos, who had one of his toughest race weekend’s yet. After scoring five podiums in seven races, the Dutchman has found himself outside of the top-five in the last two races but would like nothing more than to be the one to dethrone Bourdais who has won both editions of the San Jose event from the pole position.

After a bittersweet race in Edmonton, Power sits third in the championship only five points behind Doornbos. With three pole positions and two wins this season, the Australian is not ready to abandon the fight for the Championship title and wants to become the second different San Jose race winner. Justin Wilson made a big jump in the standings points wise, at the final leg of the Triple Crown competition. Coming into Edmonton, the Briton was in fourth place, 24 points behind second place. Coming out of Edmonton, he may still be in fourth place, but he has closed the gap and is now only nine points behind.

Champ Car Atlantic graduates, Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal have proved they deserved to make the jump into Champ Car and both will be looking for strong performances in San Jose where each of them had a difficult weekend last season. Rookie Pagenaud, who is currently second in the Roshfrans Rookie-of-The-Year standings, has strung together a trio of fourth place finishes but continues to search for that first podium finish. Last season in Atlantic competition at San Jose, Pagenaud started fifth and finished ninth, it was one of his worst performances that year. As for young Rahal, who has found his way to the podium twice this season, he will be seeking a little redemption in San Jose. In 2006, he was safely on his way to a top-three finish in the Champ Car Atlantic race but a rare error on his part sent him into the tire wall, keeping him off the podium.

Forsythe Championship Racing hopes that they can continue what they started in Edmonton. Paul Tracy and Oriol Servia finished respectively fifth and sixth, putting in one of the team’s best combined performance this year. Tracy is also hoping to leave San Jose without any more fisticuffs. Last year he and fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani had it out in pit lane after making contact on the track. Tagliani is currently sixth in the points but is coming off of a tough stretch of races in his home country of Canada.

Looking to build on the momentum gained in Edmonton, Conquest Racing’s Jan Heylen would like to finish his second consecutive race after earning a spot in the top-ten last weekend. Tristan Gommendy is awaiting to get the green light from Dr. Trammell before heading to San Jose. The Frenchman suffered a back injury aboard his PKV Racing machine in Edmonton and hopes he can get back behind the wheel as soon as possible.