Fast learner Bourdais favourite at Houston?

One of the many reasons behind Sebastien Bourdais' awesome double title winning run in the Champ Car World Series has been his ability to succeed at new venues, having won at every new venue added to the series since he joined Newman-Haas Racing in 2003.

The Frenchman has emerged victorious in each of the four 'inaugural' events staged by the series since the start of 2003 and will get a chance to make it five out of five this weekend in Houston at the brand new 1.615-mile Reliant Park street circuit on Saturday night.

In many ways the driver of the #1 McDonalds Lola-Ford has had a perfect start to the 2006 season, dominating the Long Beach weekend and winning in fine style and then using the extended break between round one and round two this weekend in Houston to marry his long time girlfriend Claire Ragot in their home town of Le Mans and Saturday's 115-lap race gives him the perfect opportunity to extend his honeymoon period.

Although the sinuous 1.6-mile circuit will be a totally new experience to everyone, Bourdais' record of winning the inaugural events at Brands Hatch, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Edmonton and San Jose coupled with his usually stunning street circuit form, have Sebastien marked out as a clear pre-race favourite.

"The race will only be a few days after the wedding so hopefully it's going to bring me good luck," said Bourdais, who recently held the Number One spot on Speed TV's weekly driver ranking, and became the first non-Formula One driver to hold the position since the poll began. "I toured the area in April before the Long Beach race and the complex is exceptional. The set up is going to be perfect for us.

"I think night racing is exciting and obviously in Houston it's going to be warm enough that people might like it a lot better and we should too," said Bourdais, who is no stranger to hot and humid climates as a resident of St. Petersburg, Florida. "It will be the premiere of our first street race under the lights and I'm fully confident it's going to be just as much lighting as the day because I've seen the set-up.

"They're going to have big additional lights like we had in Milwaukee (2004) so the complex is very well lit and visibility shouldn't be a problem. It's going to be a great atmosphere and everybody tends to party a little bit more when it's night time so it should be cool. Hopefully the McDonald's team will have something to celebrate after the race is over and we can join them."

After taking a maximum score at Long Beach, Bourdais finds himself with an eight point advantage over second place Justin Wilson and 10 over third place Alex Tagliani in the standings as he bids to become the first driver since Ted Horn in 1946-1948 to win three straight CART/Champ Car titles.