Sebastien Bourdais scored the win in the second Chevrolet Dual In Detroit Sunday at Belle Isle Park for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Photo by Chris Owens
Sebastien Bourdais held off Takuma Sato over the final three laps of Race 2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans to collect his 33rd career Indy car victory.
The race win made Bourdais the seventh different winner in eight Verizon IndyCar Series races this season and brought him to within one win of Al Unser, Jr. for seventh on the all-time Indy car victory list.
The front runners were all low on fuel when a red flag was displayed on lap 65 of the scheduled 70-lap race as the Holmatro Safety Team cleaned up debris from an incident involving Team Penske teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves, who made contact in turn 2 of the 14-turn, 2.35-mile street circuit on a restart.
IndyCar called for a timed race, and Bourdais – whose No. 11 Team Mistic E-Cigs KVSH Racing Chevrolet likely wouldn’t have had enough fuel to go the originally scheduled 70 laps – had just enough Sunoco E85 to run the final 2 minutes, 50 seconds in the race.
“It was just about as nerve-racking as it gets,” Bourdais said. “When we elected to stay out (instead of pitting late for fuel) I was like, ‘Oh, man, it’s all or nothing.’ All I could hope for was the same scenario as NOLA (with) complicated conditions and one yellow after another. It was the right call again today. The difference is we obviously deserved it because the boys worked really hard and we were on the pace, we passed a bunch of cars and made the moves when it mattered. We made it stick all the way to the end.”
The four-time Indy car champion, who started ninth on entrant points after a downpour cancelled the late-morning qualifications, finished 1.7644 seconds ahead of Sato in the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda.
Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for his third podium in the last five races. Tristan Vautier gave Dale Coyne Racing its best finish this season in fourth after starting 23rd and Marco Andretti, runner-up in Race 1 on May 30, finished fifth in the No. 27 Merchant First/Snapple Honda for Andretti Autosport.
Conor Daly, substituting for the injured James Hinchcliffe in the No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, led 12 laps early and finished sixth.
Pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, who led a field-high 35 laps, slipped to 10th on the final lap as the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet ran out of fuel. The recently-crowned Indianapolis 500 winner still maintained the championship points lead (315-294 over Power) at the halfway point of the Verizon IndyCar Series season.
“We had a really good Verizon Chevy today. It was really good in the rain as we jumped out to a big lead. It looked to be a nice day for the team,” Montoya said. “We gained points on Will with a 10th-place finish so it’s not a terrible day.”
Bourdais inherited the lead on lap 51 when Daly pitted under caution for fuel and a change from rain tires to Firestone alternates, and was aided in fuel conservation by four yellow flags over the duration. Sato overtook Montoya on a Lap 65 restart before the yellow flag flew for the Castroneves-Power contact, which was instigated by Power’s No. 1 Verizon Team Penske car being clipped from behind.
Sato, who started 15th, earned his first podium finish since Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2013.
“It was a long race, but it was a fantastic show,” Sato said. “It was difficult to overtake today with the greasy conditions, but after we made a good call and the boys did a fantastic job with the pit stops. Every restart was very exciting, especially the last few. We needed a little bit more (for the win) but it was a great day for AJ Foyt Racing.”
Verizon IndyCar Series
Belle Isle Park – Detroit, MI
Chevrolet Dual In Detroit Race 2 – May 31, 2015
1. (9) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 68, Running
2. (15) Takuma Sato, Honda, 68, Running
3. (5) Graham Rahal, Honda, 68, Running
4. (23) Tristan Vautier, Honda, 68, Running
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6. (10) Conor Daly, Honda, 68, Running
7. (19) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 68, Running
8. (14) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 68, Running
9. (18) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 68, Running
10. (1) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 68, Running
11. (12) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 68, Running
12. (20) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 68, Running
13. (13) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 68, Running
14. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 68, Running
15. (16) James Jakes, Honda, 67, Running
16. (21) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 67, Running
17. (17) Luca Filippi, Chevrolet, 66, Running
18. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 64, Contact
19. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 64, Contact
20. (4) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 58, Contact
21. (6) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 49, Contact
22. (22) Rodolfo Gonzalez, Honda, 35, Contact
23. (11) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 5, Mechanical
Winner’s average speed: 79.476
Time of Race: 2:00:38.4300
Margin of victory: 1.7644
Cautions: 7 for 17 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1-2, Montoya 3-21, Dixon 22, Montoya 23-38, Daly 39-50, Bourdais 51-68
Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Montoya 315, Power 294, Dixon 252, Rahal 246, Castroneves 245, Bourdais 228, Andretti 224, Newgarden 206, Pagenaud 193, Kimball 187.
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