Preview - Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix.

This weekend will mark a return to familiar surroundings for the majority of the Champ Car World Series field as it heads to Europe for a double-header 'flyaway' beginning at Zolder, in Belgium.

The Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix will be the first Champ Car race in Europe since the disappointing outing at Brands Hatch in 2003, which preceded a tightening of the belts as CART faced the threat of extinction at the hands of the rival Indy Racing League. Fortunately for all concerned, the series was saved and now feels confident enough to spread its wings in an effort to justify its 'world series' tag.

The 2.622-mile Zolder road course will play host to Champ Cars for the very first time this weekend - the series having previously graced Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Rockingham in the UK and the Lausitzring in Germany - and gives Conquest Racing's Jan Heylen the chance to race on home soil for the first time in a while. The Belgian comes from a town about 25 minutes down the road from the track, for which he has been an ambassador for the past few years, and will be looking to give team owner Eric Bachelart a home win on his first return to the circuit where he first drove a race car and scored his first win.

Coming off their best result of the season with a sixth place finish at Road America, both driver and team owner will want to do even better in front of family, friends and sponsors, but will have to fend off a host of fellow Europeans, not least championship leader Sebastien Bourdais.

The three-time champion will be looking to increase the lead he gained at Elkhart Lake two weeks ago, when a disappointing result for closest competitor Robert Doornbos combined with a fifth win of the season for the Frenchman to put Doornbos down by 37 points.

Road America had long been an elusive track for Bourdais, but his fourth start was a lucky one as he set sail to lead all but two laps, winning the race by nearly ten seconds. To date, Bourdais has won at every track on the Champ Car schedule that he has more than one start on - and the last time that he raced in Europe was equally successful as he claimed his maiden Champ Car wins at Brands Hatch and Lausitz.

"Obviously, it would be awesome to go back to Europe with the McDonald's team and get another couple of wins, but those tracks [Zolder and Assen] are a big unknown for us," Bourdais commented, "I have never been to Zolder or Assen, but I didn't know Brands Hatch or Lausitz either and we managed to earn our first and second Champ Car wins there.

"Since it is an unknown, there is no big advantage for us so, hopefully, we can put together a good streak there. The team has prepared extensively and put in a lot of hard work. They have made their best guess on the simulation and baseline set-up. Obviously, it's pretty difficult to prepare since we don't know what we're going to be facing for real, but they have worked really hard and I'm pretty confident that we should have very good cars for both races."

Bourdais and Heylen aside, however, the remainder of the field - and particularly the Europeans - will want to do well in front of their closest fans, with Simon Pagenaud looking to score his first podium of the season in front of the bus loads of fans making the trip from France to Zolder.

"It's going to be lots of fun to go back home and race in front of all of my friends and family," he admitted, "We didn't have the best weekend in Road America and I want to get the Aussie Vineyards car back on track. I can't wait to go back and the fact that it's in Europe and I've raced at Zolder makes it even more special for me"

The French fans will also be able to cheer on Tristan Gommendy, but the loudest cheers will almost certainly be reserved for Doornbos, who will attract legions of vociferous Dutchmen to back his chase for the title. While Bourdais will be looking to build the gap, the Minardi Team USA driver - who has two wins of his own this season - will be trying to do the opposite and score another victory before heading to his home race in Assen next week.

"It's Champ Car's first time at Zolder, but not for me as I raced there seven years ago," he pointed out, "It's just great to drive in front of your home crowd and, for sure, it gives you the extra boost that you need. The last time I won a race in front of my home crowd was at Spa-Francorchamps, in F3000, and the feeling afterwards was just great. I hope I can give them another good show and get a good result this time."

While Justin Wilson and Oriol Servia join Doornbos on the winners list in Champ Car - although neither has won so far in 2007 - most of the other Europeans will be chasing a maiden victory this weekend. Neel Jani and Dan Clarke must be the closest to achieving their aim, having both appeared on the podium this year, while Gommendy will be aiming to build on a best of fifth.

"There's great momentum in my team right now," Doornbos' Minardi Team USA team-mate claimed.

While the European contingent will be fancying their chances, however, two 'interlopers' will be looking to crash the party, with different aims for victory in Belgium.

Team Australia's Will Power will be hoping that some of the misfortune that hit him in Road America can be brushed off onto his competitors in order to claw back some of the deficit to Bourdais, which grew from 24 points to 53 after mechanical problems ended his race in Elkhart Lake.

"We had a disappointing round in Elkhart Lake, but we're not down and out - in fact, we are still in the heat of the battle and the championship is not over yet," the Australian insisted, "You know what they say, that bad luck comes in threes, so we had our three bad races in a row. Watch out in Europe!"

Power is also familiar with the Zolder layout, having raced in Europe before heading to Champ Cars.

"I really look forward to going back, as it's a track that I really enjoy and one that suits my style well and brings good luck for me," he pointed out, "I earned pole there in World Series By Renault and I'm ready to claim pole again."

Bourdais' Newman/Haas/Lanigan team-mate, Graham Rahal, is heading across the Atlantic in search of his first win and aims to entertain the European crowd in pursuit of that goal.

"I don't know much about the track, but I know it's going to be pretty quick," he revealed, "We have some data on the track and there is a lot of work the engineers have to put in before we get there. You have to show up on top of your game and that's the plan for the Medi Zone team.

"I think its going to be great for the European fans because I think something they always miss out on with Formula One is the fan interaction with the drivers. In Champ Car, we have autograph sessions and the drivers are accessible at the team areas. They also might be excited about 'Push to Pass' and exciting pit stops - I know F1 has them, but there are so many people around the cars that they probably don't get to see much."

The drivers will have an added incentive this weekend in Zolder and next in Assen, following the creation of the Phanos Resorts Champ Car European Team Cup. Much like the Canadian Triple Crown, the competition will crown the best team over the two European races. Power and Pagenaud won the Triple Crown and will now be looking to add the European Cup to confirm their status as top team-mates.