Sebastien Bourdais took the win in Saturday’s Race 1 of the Verizon IndyCar Series Dual in Detroit at Belle Isle Park. Photo by Chris Owens
Sebastien Bourdais compared the first race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit to a game of Texas hold ’em. The KVSH Racing driver had the winning hand Saturday, making history in the process.
Bourdais, the four-time Indy car season champion, won by 2.0401 seconds over Conor Daly in the 70-lap race on the 2.35-mile temporary street course at Belle Isle Park. It was the 37-year-old Frenchman’s 35th career victory, tying him with Bobby Unser for sixth on the all-time list.
“It’s like playing poker,” Bourdais said. “You know what hand you have right now at the moment, but every bet you make is going to work or not work based on what’s going to happen later on. You just have to make decisions and today we just got the lucky hand. The guys in the pits made the right call. Thankfully I didn’t make any mistakes, ran pretty well and pretty strong.”
Starting 13th in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing Chevrolet, Bourdais fell as low as 19th after pitting early to change to the black-sidewall Firestone primary tires most drivers preferred in the race. He charged to fourth by Lap 32 but didn’t take the race lead until Lap 55 when reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon made his final pit stop.
Bourdais stopped for fuel only two laps later, and when Daly needed to pit for a splash of Sunoco E85R ethanol on Lap 61, Bourdais regained the lead and took it to the checkered flag. On the heels of winning the second race of the 2015 Dual in Detroit, Bourdais has now won two consecutive Belle Isle races.
This year’s second Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, also scheduled for 70 laps, is Sunday. It leaves Bourdais little time to savor the company he joined among Indy car racing’s all-time greats, three-time Indy 500 winner Unser, who also won 35 races.
“Every time you move up the ranks like this, you feel like you belong even more in a very elite group, a very small group of extremely talented drivers, some obviously who are legends,” Bourdais said. “I don’t know that I want to compare myself to any of those.”
Daly, meanwhile, was elated with second place, his best finish in 13 career Verizon IndyCar Series races.
“I am a happy human,” the 24-year-old American and Verizon IndyCar Series rookie said. “I have to continue to remember this is my first year, right? Everything has been all over the place up until this. To be on the podium my first year, it’s a really rewarding experience. I just hope I can do more, obviously.”
Team Penske’s quartet of drivers dominated the race early, with championship leader Simon Pagenaud, 2014 series champion Will Power and 1999 Indy car champion Juan Pablo Montoya leading the first 53 laps. But Pagenaud ran out of fuel on the final lap, finishing 13th, and Power’s day ended when a wheel nut on his car came loose on lap 45, forcing him to pull off course.
Montoya finished third in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, his best result since winning the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March.
“We were trying to play the rain,” Montoya said. “When we restarted, we never really pushed. We were trying to make sure we could make it to the rain and the rain never came. We tried to run a smart race, but it didn’t happen. We got a decent podium out of it, so I’m pretty happy about that.”
Graham Rahal finished fourth in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda, just ahead of Helio Castroneves in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Dixon finished 19th after suffering electrical issues in his No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, but not before setting a track record lap of 1 minute, 14.6675 seconds (113.302 mph) on lap 30.
Pagenaud retains the championship lead after seven of 16 races with 313 points. Castroneves is second heading into Sunday’s second race with 254 points, ahead of Dixon (247), Carlos Munoz (227), Josef Newgarden (227), Montoya (223) and Alexander Rossi (223), who finished 10th, six days after winning the 100th Indianapolis 500.
Verizon IndyCar Series
Belle Isle Park – Detroit, MI
Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Race 1 – June 4, 2016
1. (13) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 70, Running
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3. (3) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 70, Running
4. (10) Graham Rahal, Honda, 70, Running
5. (2) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 70, Running
6. (5) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 70, Running
7. (15) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 70, Running
8. (8) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 70, Running
9. (7) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 70, Running
10. (17) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 70, Running
11. (11) Takuma Sato, Honda, 70, Running
12. (20) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 70, Running
13. (1) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 70, Running
14. (14) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 70, Running
15. (12) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 70, Running
16. (19) Marco Andretti, Honda, 69, Running
17. (21) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 69, Running
18. (4) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 65, Running
19. (6) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 56, Electrical
20. (9) Will Power, Chevrolet, 44, Mechanical
21. (18) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 8, Contact
22. (22) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 0, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 97.857
Time of Race: 1:40:51.6838
Margin of victory: 2.0401 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 8 laps
Lead changes: 8 among 6 drivers
Lap Leaders: Pagenaud 1 – 23, Power 24 – 28, Montoya 29 – 31, Pagenaud 32 – 43, Montoya 44 – 53, Dixon 54, Bourdais 55 – 57, Daly 58 – 61, Bourdais 62 – 70
Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Pagenaud 313, Castroneves 254, Dixon 247, Munoz 227, Newgarden 227, Montoya 223, Rossi 223, Hinchcliffe 217, Kanaan 214, Kimball 213.
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