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 d 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 holds 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.

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