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With Bruno Junquiera in the Newman-Haas pit.

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> F1 Driver Interviews
> Motorcycle Racing Riders Interviews (WSBK/MotoGP)

Bruno Junqueira Interview - #1 Newman-Haas PacifiCare Team
Bruno Junqueira was in the Newman-Haas tent at Toronto. He'd just finished morning practice where he'd snatched the fastest time from home town favorite Paul Tracy and was feeling good. I knew ahead of time that he had experience of the world's major racing destinations. Like Sebastien Bourdais, his team mate, he'd been a Formula 3000 champion and that meant that he'd driven on some of the world's best circuits before even coming to Champ Car.

As I sat down to talk with him he reminded me of a cat, and I thought that the entire Champ Car feild as if they were characatured as cats: Paul would be the weathered tomcat; Sebastien, being interviewed for TV across the tent would be the Chesire; Bruno, here in front of me, wired after practice, reminded me of a panther who had stalked and eaten. The image rang true to as his answers seemed a lot more based on sensual memories of places than visual ones.

So where's best? "I enjoy so much to go to Australia, because we spend a week there so we have time to not just go racing but to enjoy for 2 or 3 days the beach and it's a pretty nice area. We go bike riding and do many outdoor things. Fantastic!"

"And the city I enjoy most to go racing is Vancouver. It's like Toronto, but the city area is even nicer. Unfortunately we don't have time to do many things, but there are some nice streets there and we go to walk around. Good Restaurants too!"

And What about Europe? "For sure Monaco is pretty nice. Unfortunately with F3000, all the good hotels for a race weekend are taken by F1 so we stay very far away from the track so its a kind of struggle to get out and enjoy places."

"Let me think?" he said recollecting, almost as if thinking of a flavour, something he knew and had savoured. "In Italy, I lived in Vialeggio for one year but I didn't enjoy it very much. Magny-Cours and Nurburg are in the middle of nowhere. Barcelona is nice. I liked it alot. Spielberg in Austria is a very nice place, beautiful mountains and scenery. Near Hockenheim you can get good Italian food as it is in the South of Germany and close to the Italian border. I enjoy alot to go to Budapest, it is a very nice city." We talked about food too, and he refered me to his sister, who is a keen chronicler of all the restaurants they had eaten in on the Champ Car Circuit.

So after the almost exhastive list of all the places he'd visited in his double championship career? What's the top 3 favourite places?

Surfer's Paradise, then Vancouver, then Montreal.

And Bruno's favourite place to race? "Road America Elkhart Lake in the U.S., and Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps in Europe." Phew! Talk about a "where's where" of grandprixcities™! Champ Car Cats travel the world, keep an eye on the Cartoon network for that one. Remember you heard it first here! Godspeed, Cvetko Ostroznik

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