Bourdais continues lock on Long Beach

Before the Champ Car World Series began its season, three-time and reigning titleholder Sebastien Bourdais said the series’ new race car would “level the playing field” and make it tougher for him to repeat as champion.

Perhaps, but not at Long Beach.

Bourdais dominated the field again Sunday, winning the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach for the third consecutive year -- a feat last achieved when Al Unser Jr. won four consecutive races on the city’s seaside streets from 1988 through 1991.

Bourdais had a dismal day at the series opener a week ago on a new street course in Las Vegas, struggling with the series’ new Panoz DP01 car and failing to finish.

But Bourdais and his Newman-Haas-Lanigan team regained their stride in the 33rd running of the race on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn Long Beach course. After starting on the pole as fastest qualifier, Bourdais led 58 of the 78 laps at an average speed of 91.432 mph.

“I really couldn’t feel any worse than what I was feeling after Vegas,” said Bourdais, 28, who was born in the famous racing city of Le Mans, France, but now lives in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“We got things figured out,” he said. “We got ourselves together. I can’t thank the team enough for what they did.”

The victory also was Bourdais’ 24th in 61 Champ Car starts, his 13th in the last 23 races, and it put him back in contention to win his fourth consecutive championship.

A surprise second was Oriol Servia, a last-minute substitute for four-time Long Beach winner Paul Tracy, who injured his back in a crash during practice Saturday.

Servia, a former Champ Car regular without a full-time ride this year, finished 2.6 seconds behind Bourdais for Forsythe Championship Racing after starting 14th on the 17-car grid.

“I wasn’t expecting to be here,” Servia said at the news conference for the top three finishers. “They gave me a fabulous car.”

“Obviously, I hope Paul gets back soon,” he said of Tracy, the 2003 series champion. “I hope I find another ride. But I hope he gets back soon. He’s a good friend.”

Will Power, the Team Australia driver who won the Vegas Grand Prix a week ago for his first series victory, finished third and Justin Wilson of the RSports team was fourth, after both slipped past Wilson’s teammate, Alex Tagliani, on the final lap.

Power, 26, had won the provisional pole in the opening round of qualifying Friday and said, “We had a quick car all weekend.”

But after getting behind Bourdais and Tagliani, Power said, he couldn’t get close enough to go for the victory.

“I just sat behind Alex Tagliani for the whole race,” said Power, who has a 15-point lead over Tagliani in the series standings and is 19 points ahead of Bourdais.

“I could have kept with Sebastien, no problem,” Power said. “I could not pass. It was impossible. You know, it was just the last lap I had a shot at it. It’s still a good weekend for us.”

The 1-hour 40-minute timed race had a fairly ragged start, with the cars mostly single-file, rather than in rows of two, as they took the green flag with Bourdais in front and getting the jump.

But that prevented a repeat of last year, when five cars crashed trying to make the tight first turn of the first lap.

“We were ordered to have two car lengths between the rows, which I think is the way to go,” Bourdais said. “Because otherwise, everybody’s bunched up and for sure it’s the recipe for disaster.”

He added, “Once I kind of got going on the gas, I held my line and that’s it. But I never really quite checked my mirrors after that.”

Bourdais threatened to make the race a cakewalk, leading at one point by nearly 25 seconds. But his lead vanished on Lap 53 when Power’s teammate, Simon Pagenaud, spun and brought out one of the race’s three full-course caution flags.

After Bourdais and the other leaders pitted, Bourdais and Servia trailed French rookie Tristan Gommendy of PKV Racing, who had pitted out of sequence with the front-runners.

Bourdais patiently waited until Gommendy made his final pit stop on Lap 68 to regain the lead. Bourdais had one final challenge when the last caution period forced a restart with only two laps left, but he easily held Servia at bay.

Graham Rahal, an 18-year-old rookie and Bourdais’ teammate, started fifth and held that position for much of the race before finishing eighth.

Rahal, son of former Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series team owner Bobby Rahal, crashed on the first lap at Las Vegas, so Long Beach was his first real test.

“We struggled a little bit with the fueling on both [pit] stops,” he said. “At least we got the first race behind us, and the next one should be better.”

Champ Car’s next race is in Houston on Sunday.

james.peltz@latimes.com