Newman/Haas drivers battle for Champ Car title

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais find themselves in an interesting position as the Champ Car season draws to a close.

The Newman/Haas teammates come into Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix fighting each other for the series title.

"For sure, it's a little harder to race a teammate because we work together," Junqueira said Thursday, a day before the start of qualifying.

"I think one of the reasons we are fighting for the championship is because we all share together," he added, referring to car setups and driving styles that work on different tracks.

Bourdais, who leads with 307 points, needs only a ninth-place finish to take the title only a year after winning the rookie of the year award.

"We're working together on the track," Bourdais said. "It's a completely open book. We both share all the data, so there are no secrets."

Bourdais said he'd try to avoid problems on Sunday on the 2.7-mile Hermanos Rodriguez road course, but that doesn't mean he won't be aggressive in trying to win.

"The safest place to be," he said, "is in front of the race."

Junqueira, runner-up to Cristiano da Matta in 2002 and to Paul Tracy last year, is trying to avoid becoming the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1974-76 to finish second three consecutive years.

"I know I will have to have a great race ... and hope that Sebastien has some kind of problems," he said.

Junqueira, who is 27 points behind his teammate, is coming off of a victory at Surfers Paradise, Australia, that kept him alive in the championship chase. Bourdais finished second.

Organizers say that Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier, who is third in the points standings, was expected to race on Sunday despite being knocked out briefly in a crash in Australia.

With growing interest in racing here, NASCAR has scheduled a March 7 Busch Series race at Hermanos Rodriguez, and Formula One has agreed to a 2006 race, probably in October, at a new course to be built in the Caribbean resort of Cancun.

Sunday's race itself is a sort of triumph for the series, whose new owners bought it out of bankruptcy at the start of the year, giving them little time to set up broadcasting and sponsorship arrangements. Organizers said 300,000 tickets have already been sold for the race.

In recent years, the series has lost several major teams and drivers to the rival Indy Racing League.