Bourdais disappointed with last qualifying.

Sebastien Bourdais thanked the fact that his strong run in provisional qualifying guaranteed him a spot on the front row of the grid for his last Champ Car World Series after a disappointing final session at Mexico City.

Competing in his final race before he embarks on a career in Formula 1, the recently crowned 2007 Champion was only eighth fastest in the deciding session.

However, his fastest lap time in provisional qualifying means he will remain at the front of the grid around the sweeping circuit. Even so, the Frenchman was disappointed with the way his final qualifying session played out.

"Well, quite simply we had a good day yesterday and a bad day today," he admitted. " It just wasn't really the way we wanted to have our last qualifying run.

"You've got to keep your chin up and go racing. It had nothing to do with the car. We just never got a gap and got traffic. And here, if you want to go against a guy who is going to have two sets and you only have one, you'll have to get everything your way. We never got a gap. And it was always too close to someone, something.

Bourdais is now looking to bring his hugely successful five-year Champ Car stint to a close on a high after deciding to look after when he realised his Newman Haas Lanigan car didn't have the pace for pole position.

"I tried to keep the tires to have a somewhat fresher set for tomorrow's race. I guess it might be a little curious from the outside, but if you know you're not going to get pole anyways, no point in wasting them."