Bourdais takes maiden IROC win.

After making the perfect start to his defence of the Champ Car World Series title last weekend in Long Beach, Sebastien Bourdais made it two wins in a week as he became the first Champ Car driver in ten years to win an event in the International Race of Champions competition.

Bourdais stormed into the lead early on in the race and then held a fierce challenge from IROC's all-time leading race winner Mark Martin in the final laps to take the victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday.

"I knew it was going to be a tough fight in those last laps," Bourdais said. "I knew I had to try and keep the car low on the track but I was having a little trouble that made it tougher. It's a great feeling to win here. Thanks to the IROC people for letting me come here and compete with these guys. This is a great series."

The Champ Car World Series points leader had just one day of IROC practice leading up to Friday's race, owing to the fact that he had to travel cross-country to run in Champ Car testing on both Wednesday and Thursday in Portland. Despite the lack of seat time, the Frenchman dominated the event in becoming the first foreign-born driver since 1992 to win an IROC race. The victory, along with the bonus points earned for leading the most laps and for leading at the halfway group boosts Bourdais into second in the 2005 IROC standings, just 10 points behind Martin.

Bourdais started from the pole Friday afternoon, a spot he inherited after a wreck in the Daytona IROC opener left him last in the round one results. He put that spot to good use, passing World of Outlaws legend Steve Kinser on lap seven to take a lead he would hold for the next 30 trips around the 1.5-mile oval.

He fell behind reigning Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch on a lap 37 restart brought on by Danny Lasoski's brush with the wall, but took the lead again on Lap 46 when Busch cut a tyre and hit the wall. He led easily for the next few laps until Martin tracked him down with five laps to go. The NASCAR veteran tried to find a way around on the final orbits of the Texas track but could not find an opening as Bourdais punched his ticket to Victory Lane.

"Sebastien did a fabulous job," Martin said after Bourdais became the 47th driver ever to win an IROC event. "I thought I was going to be able to race him for it but he did a good job holding me off. He was fast."

The IROC series now takes a break before the next event at Richmond International Raceway in September.