page_title: 2003 London Champ Car Trophy
section_title: Practice and qualifying
hierarchical_section_title: 2003 London Champ Car Trophy / Practice and qualifying
caption_attribution_description: Paul Tracy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for second day qualifications for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
context_page_description: The 2003 London Champ Car Trophy was a Championship Auto Racing Teams motor race held on 5 May 2003 at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England in front of a crowd of approximately 40,000 people. It was the fourth round of the 2003 CART season, the first American open wheel car race at the track since 1978, and the first of two European races of the season. Sébastien Bourdais of the Newman/Haas Racing team won the 165-lap race after he started from the second position. His teammate Bruno Junqueira finished second and Mario Domínguez of Herdez Competition took third.
  Paul Tracy won his first pole position in three years by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and he maintained his startline advantage going into Druids bend. He led the next 54 laps before entering the pit lane for fuel and tyres. Bourdais remained on the circuit for one extra lap because he had conserved fuel and had a faster pit stop than his teammate, who was delayed by the slower car of Rodolfo Lavín, to advance into the lead. Bourdais and his teammate Tracy exchanged the fastest lap of the race as they stayed within a second of each other until Tracy's engine failed on the 118th lap.
context_section_description: Three practice sessions were held before the race: two 50-minute sessions on 3 May and a third 75-minute session on the morning of 4 May. Manning set the fastest time in the first practice session with a lap of 37.953 seconds, ahead of Junqueira and Tracy. Tiago Monteiro spun at Surtees corner but avoided damaging his car. Fernández caused the session to be suspended when he spun backwards into a tyre barrier at Surtees corner, which caused heavy damage to his car's rear; he was unhurt. Tracy recorded the fastest lap of the second practice session, at 37.263 seconds. Bourdais finished with the second-fastest time with Alex Tagliani in third. Junqueira and Manning rounded out the top five, their best times two thousandths of a second apart. Two red flags were triggered during the session: the first was for Tracy who spun exiting Druids hairpin, removing the front wing of his car in a collision with a tyre barrier, the second when Tagliani spun at the pit lane entrance midway through practice.
  Qualifying was split into two sessions; both sessions took place on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and lasted 60 minutes with one driver allowed on the track at any time. The Saturday qualifying order would be set in reverse of the day's earlier practice sessions with Sunday's running order based on Saturday qualifying results. Each driver was allowed four timed laps, and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap times. One championship point was available to the fastest drivers of both qualifying sessions. They were guaranteed to start on the front row of the grid for Monday's race. This was the first time this format was used on a road course in CART after drivers voiced concerns over their ability to achieve a lap time without encountering traffic. The first qualifying session had track temperatures lower than observed in the morning and drivers could not get the optimum tyre temperature. This meant they could only increase their pace on their final attempts.
  Tracy took provisional pole by recording the only lap close to 36 seconds with a new track record of 37.006 seconds on his last attempt, 0.016 seconds ahead of Junqueira who held the first position until Tracy's time. Junquiera's performance was compromised as he drove in an altered car that had better straightline speed but was slower in the corners. Bourdais ended the session third with Oriol Servià fourth and Manning fifth. Following him were the Canadian duo of Patrick Carpentier in sixth and Tagliani seventh. Fernández switched to a back-up car for the rest of the race meeting. His team altered its setup, but he used too much kerb at Clearways corner and was left eighth. Two other Mexican drivers, Jourdain and Mario Domínguez, rounded out the top ten. Vasser was the fastest driver not to reach the top ten; his best time of 37.982 seconds was nearly a second off Tracy's pace. He was followed by Monteiro and Mário Haberfeld. Alex Yoong recovered from gear linkage issues from practice, but an error at Druids hairpin left him 14th. Patrick Lemarié, Rodolfo Lavín, Joël Camathias and Roberto Moreno were in the next four provisional positions. Ryan Hunter-Reay did not set a lap time after he spun on the front straight before starting his first timed lap. He was sent to the rear of the qualifying line and could not manage a second run. Monteiro and Camathias made two outings because of a miscommunication between their respective teams and completed three timed laps on the first runs. Both drivers were allowed back on the track later in the session and warmed up their tyres to gain the optimum running temperature. Monteiro and Camathias ran four out-laps before their final attempt.
  In the third practice session, Fernández was quickest early on until Bourdais moved to the top of the time sheets. Tracy then took over the top spot, but Bourdais responded with a last minute lap of 37.379 seconds. Tracy followed 0.120 seconds adrift in second. Fernández and Servià placed third and fourth and Junqueira completed the top five ahead of second qualifying. Several in
caption: Paul Tracy (pictured in 2009) took his first pole position for three years with a new track record of the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.
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