Surprise winner at IndyCar opener
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Sebastien Bourdais believed he could drive for tiny Dale Coyne Racing and really make a difference for a team believed to have little chance against the big guns of IndyCar.
But he had a condition: Bourdais wanted to be reunited with those who helped him when he was recognized as the top driver in open-wheel racing. So he brought along engineer Craig Hampson — who led Bourdais to 31 victories, 31 poles and four consecutive titles from 2004 to 2007 — and Olivier Boisson, the Frenchman’s engineer at KVSH Racing the past several seasons as they teamed to win four races.
Sunday on the streets of St. Petersburg, that squad showed it has the potential to be a major player this season in IndyCar. Bourdais pulled off a stunning upset in the season opener for the series, driving from a last-place starting position to a victory that left him in tears.
He credited his two engineers and talked about the complexity of managing relationships while pushing so hard for success.
“They’re the two guys that understand me the best, have understood me the best, over the years,” he said. “It takes a very special mindset and relationship to really be able to cope with each other, optimize each other and carry over the time. It’s pretty exhausting as far as relationships are concerned.
“It’s very difficult to sometimes not be offensive to people when you’re pushing everybody so hard. It’s hard because you want this so bad and you put so much into it that at some point it’s very easy to be over-demanding.”
So the potential is there for Bourdais to help build the Coyne organization this season. Few expected it to show in the form of victory on the temporary street course in St. Pete, the town Bourdais now calls home. Team Penske was seeking its fourth consecutive victory in the event, and a problem in qualifying meant Bourdais started last in the 21-car field.
It left him downtrodden the day before the race because it was his error.
“Man, I just threw that one away so bad,” he said. “It’s probably the hardest race to recover. The (passing) windows are super narrow, and it’s difficult to pass.”
Bourdais earned his 36th career victory, which broke a tie with Bobby Unser for sixth on IndyCar’s wins list. It was the fifth career win for the Coyne team, but the first since Carlos Huertas won at Houston in 2014.
“We were hoping we could win a race or two this year,” Coyne said. “We’re halfway there. Maybe we can do better than that.”
Bourdais led 69 of the 110 laps to give Honda a much-needed victory over Chevrolet. He beat reigning series champion Simon Pagenaud, also from France, to the finish line by 10.350 seconds. “He was untouchable,” Pagenaud said. Scott Dixon finished third for Chip Ganassi Racing in its first race back with Honda. Ryan Hunter-Reay was fourth for Andretti Autosport, and Honda appeared much improved with four drivers in the top five. Takuma Sato was fifth in his first race with Andretti.