Healthy Junqueira is ready to roll again

The Brazilian is recovering from two broken vertebrae.
By MIKE HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bruno Junqueira had one small consolation while missing most of last season recovering from two broken vertebrae -- at least he didn't finish second again.
The Brazilian, injured in a crash in May during the Indianapolis 500, was runner-up in the Champ Car World Series each year from 2002 through 2004, losing to Cristiano da Matta, Paul Tracy and current Newman/Haas Racing teammate Sebastien Bourdais.
Now, heading into Sunday's season-opening Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Junqueira, the first driver since Bobby Rahal in 1982-86 to win at least one race in each of his first five seasons in the series, is healthy and very motivated to try to win the championship that has eluded him.
"You know, I never really got too sad while I was out because I always knew I would be back and, with Newman/Haas, you always have the chance to win," Junqueira said.
"My teammate will be tough to beat but, if I win the championship, I know I will earn it," added Junqueira, who was leading the Champ Car points when he was injured at Indy -- a race that is part of the rival IRL IndyCar Series.
Going for hat trick
Bourdais, who at 27 is two years younger than Junqueira, will be going after an unprecedented third straight Champ Car title and fourth in five years for the team co-owned by Chicago businessman Carl Haas and actor-racer Paul Newman. Da Matta was driving for Newman/Haas when he won in 2002.
The big edge Newman/Haas has these days is the team makes very few mistakes. When Oriol Servia replaced Junqueira after the injury, he fit right into the team and finished second in the points to Bourdais.
Justin Wilson, whose No. 9 RuSport team chased Newman/Haas all year and finished third, said, "You look back on your season and you think, 'Oh, I didn't do this,' or 'If we didn't have that,' you just can't afford it. That's really where Newman/Haas and Sebastien have been very strong, and that's what we're working toward is not having those moments of regret.
"We're just working very hard on all the areas where we think we're weak, and that's basically the bottom line is they don't seem to have any weak areas. They're strong in every different aspect of Champ Car, whether it's road, street or whatever; you've got to have all those attributes to be a champion."
Competitive outlook
Despite the recent dominance of Newman/Haas, the season is shaping up as very competitive.
Tracy, who leads all active drivers with 30 race victories, including four at Long Beach, is expected to be a top contender for Forsythe Championship Racing, along with Wilson and his RuSport teammate A.J. Allmendinger, who is still looking for his first race win as he enters his third season.
Mario Dominguez is back as Tracy's teammate and remains a threat to win races.
Da Matta, who came back last year after a brief shot at Formula One, is switching from PKV to Dale Coyne Racing, while Alex Tagliani will pair with newcomer Will Power at Team Australia.
Another big attraction this year will be Katherine Legge, moving up from the developmental Atlantic series, where she won three races last year, to a full-time Champ Car ride with PKV Racing.
She will team with Servia, who lost his Newman/Haas ride when Junqueira returned, and, for at least a race or two with former series champion Jimmy Vasser, the V in PKV. Vasser, the oldest driver in the series at 40, will race a third team car at Long Beach to help his new teammates get acclimated. But his schedule after that -- if any -- has not been set.
A couple of other rookies to keep an eye on are Antonio Pizzonia at Rocketsports and Charles Zwolsman, who joins second-year driver Andrew Ranger at Mi-Jack Racing. Pizzonia has driven in Formula One and Zwolsman won the Atlantic championship last year.
CTE Racing-HVM will field cars for fourth-year driver Nelson Philippe and rookie Dan Clarke, who comes to America from the British F3 Championship.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.