Sebastien Bourdais overcame a slow early pit stop to win his third straight Champ Car race on Sunday, edging Justin Wilson by 3.065 seconds in the Grand Prix of Monterrey.

Bourdais and Wilson went at each other all afternoon during a virtually crash-free race despite slippery conditions on the asphalt.

The 2.1-mile (3.3-kilometer) Parque Fundidora road course curves around a rusty, long-closed steel mill in Mexico's third-largest city.

''I think we really gave each other a run for our money,'' Bourdais said. ''Nobody could lay back or anything. It was running flat out the whole time.''

The French winner finished in 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50.252 seconds and had an average best-lap speed of 96.099 mph (154.623 kph). England's Wilson finished in 1:39:53.318 and averaged 96.049 mph (154.542 kph) in his fastest time around the course.

The heat was a factor during the 76-lap race, with temperatures at 97 degrees F (36 C) at the start. On the track, they climbed to 125 degrees F (51 C).

American A.J. Allmendinger was third, 14.132 seconds off the lead. He was followed by Canadians Paul Tracy, 47.222 seconds behind Bourdais, and Alex Tagliani, whose time of 1:40:.48.030 was nearly 58 seconds slower than the winner.

Bourdais, the only Champ Car winner this season after victories to start the year at Long Beach and last week in Houston, started first after winning Saturday's qualifying session, becoming the first driver since Randy Mears from 1988 to 1991 to win four straight poles at the same event.

The 27-year-old Frenchman has never started anywhere but up front since first coming to Monterrey in 2003. He last won on this course in 2004.

Bourdais held his lead for the first 23 laps on Sunday. But Wilson's crew was quicker when both cars pitted during a caution because of debris on the course, and the Briton moved into first place by three lengths.

''I really thought we had things under control. But then we got out of our box and I saw we were second and from there on I knew it was going to be a tough race,'' Bourdais said.

Allmendinger then pulled off a risky inside pass to briefly move Bourdais into third.

''I got around Sebastien on the restart, but more than anything I kind of knew I was probably using more fuel than he was and that he could go longer than me,'' Allmendinger said. ''I was just thinking the first two races he had too many easy victories, so I wanted to make him sweat just a bit this time.''

Bourdais, with his new bride watching from the pits, and Wilson started on option tires, which feature a softer compound and better grip. Bourdais switched to regular wheels during his first trip to the pits while Wilson went with another set of options, known as ''reds.''

Wilson led for 28 laps, but Bourdais' early move to regular tires eventually paid dividends. He reclaimed second place, then ran his gas tank down to fumes waiting for Wilson's second pit, which came in lap 55. Bourdais pulled off a lap later, then got back out faster and used the red tires, which quickly heated up to the track's blistering surface, to stretch his advantage to nearly five seconds in the closing laps.

''The second start, I just didn't do enough fuel saving,'' Wilson said. ''We thought we were good, but Sebastian was just too quick at the end. It's how it is. We did everything we could this weekend.''

Bourdais' Newman/Haas teammate and the 2005 Monterrey winner, Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, was black-flagged early for blocking Tracy and never recovered. He finished 10th.

''I don't feel I blocked, I felt I just held my line,'' said Junqueira, whose still trying to fully recover after breaking two vertebrae in a wreck at last year's Indianapolis 500. ''I moved before Tracy moved and I thought that was OK, and then Tracy passed me.''

Mario Dominguez, who came to Monterrey second behind Bourdais in the Champ Car points standings, was the only Mexican competing. He was sixth, 58.782 seconds off the lead.

The second-place finish gave Wilson 77 points on the year, 25 behind Bourdais. Dominguez fell to third with 69.

The second season of A1 Grand Prix has already got off to a flying start, with event organisers experiencing an overwhelming demand for tickets for the first race in The Netherlands on 1 October. Additional grandstand tickets released this week have already been snapped up by enthusiastic fans, with over 50,000 tickets sold so far.

Grandstand tickets for the race at Zandvoort Circuit Park sold out in just five days, leaving event organisers trying to increase grandstand capacity. At a meeting with A1 Grand Prix last week, management at the Zandvoort circuit and A1 Team Netherlands agreed to build extra grandstands to help address the shortfall in spectator seating and increase the capacity of others.

Several thousand additional grandstand tickets were put on sale on the A1 Grand Prix web site on Tuesday 18 April. However, within a matter of hours, many of these extra seats had sold out.

With most of the grandstand seats gone, a huge number of fans will be desperate to purchase General Admission tickets and get a place in the Dunes for a chance to see the A1 Cars in action around the Dutch circuit.

Speaking about his team’s home race, Jan Lammers, seatholder of A1 Team Netherlands said, ‘I’m delighted that A1 Grand Prix has been received so enthusiastically in Holland, and the huge support that A1 Team Netherlands has here is reflected in the overwhelming demand we have seen for race tickets. The Zandvoort circuit and community, together with A1 Team Netherlands and A1 Grand Prix are putting together a great event for the whole weekend, with parties and events all over the city. I can’t wait for October when we have the chance to race in front of grandstands packed with patriotic fans.’

Chairman of A1 Grand Prix, Sheikh Maktoum said ‘Hopefully these extra grandstand seats will go some way to addressing the huge demand for tickets that we have experienced so far. Our expectations that this race would be received well in Holland have proved to be correct, and I think we can expect a great season opener when A1 Grand Prix arrives in Zandvoort for the race on 1 October.’

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has admitted he would be prepared to enter into a partnership with Silverstone to safeguard the British Grand Prix.

Ecclestone told BBC Sport he had agreed to ex-racing driver Harry Stiller's proposal of a "joint venture".

But he did not clarify what that meant and rejected co-promoting the race.

"Stiller asked: 'Could we have a joint venture?' I said: 'Yes, I'm happy to do something where we lose money together or make it together,'" Ecclestone said.

Stiller approached Ecclestone because he was opposed to the plan by Silverstone's owner the British Racing Drivers' Club to finance the redevelopment of the track by leasing it to a property developer for 150 years.

BRDC chairman Stuart Rolt has admitted the plan is so unpopular it has little chance of being accepted by members.

Stiller has come up with a new redevelopment proposal, which would guarantee the British GP for 10 years.

His idea is for the BRDC and Ecclestone would share the costs of upgrading the circuit and split the profits from gate money and sponsorship and advertising revenues but all the assets would be retained by the BRDC.

In typically enigmatic style, Ecclestone added that he had "no agreement with Harry Stiller. I'm not going to be a promoter.

"Whether I could be Silverstone's promoter or not is academic, I'm not going to be.

"Silverstone have a contract and it's very clear - they've known exactly what the conditions are for a very long time. My name gets linked to so many things that aren't true - another one doesn't make a lot of difference."

The BRDC and Ecclestone signed a contract last December, securing Silverstone's role as the host of the British Grand Prix until 2009.

The contract requires the track to undergo a multi-million-pound redevelopment to bring it up to contemporary F1 standards.

Michael Schumacher showed that Ferrari could be a force in this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix, whcih marks the start of the European leg of the championship.

Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1:24.751 in the first practice, completing a total of four laps - two when you take into account a warm up and cool down lap.

In the afternoon session, defending race champion Fernando Alonso was quickest in a time of 1:25.043. The Spaniard failed to set a time in the first practice, electing to go out for three tours of the circuit before parking it in the garage to preserve the Renault engine.

Schumacher finished 3-10ths of a second behind Alonso in the afternoon session with BMW-Sauber test driver Robert Kubica third quickest followed by Honda test driver Anthony Davidson and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa rounding out the top five.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault, which is fitted with a brand new engine this weekend, was sixth fastest, followed by Toyota's Jarno Trulli. The top seven drivers were all within a second of the best time set by Alonso.

Williams test driver Alexander Wurz set the eighth fastest time with Juan Pablo Montoya in ninth and BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld in 10th.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve was 15th fastest in a time of 1:26.797, which was 1.7-seconds off the pace set by Alonso. Villeneuve was among a handful of drivers who failed to set a time in the opening practice.

SECOND PRACTICE

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1:25.043           15
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:25.371 + 0.328   13
 3.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:25.421 + 0.378   31
 4.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:25.699 + 0.656   31
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:25.879 + 0.836   16
 6.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)  1:25.991 + 0.948   15
 7.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:26.029 + 0.986   24
 8.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:26.328 + 1.285   31
 9.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:26.334 + 1.291   15
10.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:26.387 + 1.344    7
11.  Button        Honda               (M)  1:26.427 + 1.384   12
12.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:26.500 + 1.457   16
13.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  1:26.653 + 1.610   19
14.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:26.783 + 1.740   24
15.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:26.797 + 1.754   13
16.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:26.917 + 1.874   27
17.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:26.989 + 1.946   10
18.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:27.128 + 2.085   24
19.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:27.157 + 2.114    6
20.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:27.503 + 2.460   12
21.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:27.544 + 2.501   20
22.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:27.639 + 2.596    5
23.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:27.719 + 2.676   25
24.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:27.990 + 2.947   12
25.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:28.361 + 3.318   21
26.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:28.833 + 3.790   27
27.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:29.870 + 4.827   23
28.  Ide           Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:31.042 + 5.999   20

FIRST PRACTICE

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:24.751            4
 2.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:25.132 + 0.381   19
 3.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:25.942 + 1.191   24
 4.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:26.012 + 1.261   27
 5.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:26.417 + 1.666    7
 6.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:26.498 + 1.747   18
 7.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:26.596 + 1.845    4
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:26.678 + 1.927    7
 9.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:26.938 + 2.187    5
10.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:28.048 + 3.297   13
11.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:28.498 + 3.747    6
12.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:28.969 + 4.218   20
13.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:29.106 + 4.355    6
14.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:29.695 + 4.944   13
15.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:29.697 + 4.946   13
16.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:30.348 + 5.597    6
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:31.217 + 6.466   17
18.  Ide           Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:31.482 + 6.731   17
19.  Alonso        Renault             (M)   no time            3
20.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)   no time            1
21.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)   no time            2
22.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)   no time            1
23.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)   no time            1
24.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)   no time            1
25.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)   no time            1
26.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)   no time           
27.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)   no time
28.  Button        Honda               (M)   no time