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IndyCar Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg results: Sebastien Bourdais wins

By Brittany Frederick

Sebastien Bourdais on track on the streets of St. Petersburg. Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Courtesy of IndyCar
Sebastien Bourdais on track on the streets of St. Petersburg. Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Courtesy of IndyCar /
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Sebastian Bourdais secured the upset win for Dale Coyne Racing at the 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, proving that IndyCar is still wide open.

The new Verizon IndyCar Series season started with a wily veteran on top. Sebastien Bourdais won the 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, making a massive comeback to put his new team in Victory Lane.

Bourdais started dead last after a crash in qualifying but assumed the lead on Lap 36 and hardly ever looked back. The Frenchman, who lives in St. Petersburg, gave Dale Coyne Racing their first victory since Carlos Huertas won the first part of the Dual in Detroit back in 2014. It was Bourdais’ first win since last June.

Second place was very familiar for defending IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud was the runner-up at the 2016 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after being chased down by Juan Pablo Montoya and settled into the same spot behind Bourdais for most of Sunday. It’s a strong start to his title defense and he was the only driver within striking distance.

There were just two yellow flags, both in the first third of the race. The first incident of the day happened on the first lap as Graham Rahal spun out going into the newly redesigned Turn 3 after contact with Charlie Kimball. Kimball and Carlos Munoz were also affected. All three cars were able to return but fell off the lead lap.

The resulting caution allowed James Hinchcliffe, who had started third, to steal the top spot from pole sitter Will Power. Power was subsequently issued a drive-through penalty after running over an air hose while exiting his first pit stop and fell back to 18th.

He worked his way back up to 3rd, but new strategist Jon Bouslog ordered him to slow down in case of a late caution and Power was lapped by Bourdais. Adding insult to injury Power was black flagged by Race Control in the closing laps for falling below minimum speed. He would ultimately not finish the race and be scored 19th.

A second full course caution happened on Lap 26 after Tony Kanaan made contact with Mikhail Aleshin as Kanaan rejoined the racetrack. Kanaan got the worst of it with a damaged left rear pod that sent him back to pit lane for an entire rear wing replacement.

Brakes were also an issue on Sunday. Ryan Hunter-Reay reported brake problems before the race while Spencer Pigot suffered a brake disc issue that caused one of his tires to catch fire as he tried to pit. This is the first year that IndyCar has run with Performance Friction Brakes.

Below are the complete results for the 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:

1 – Sebastien Bourdais
2 – Simon Pagenaud
3 – Scott Dixon
4 – Takuma Sato
5 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
6 – Helio Castroneves
7 – Marco Andretti
8 – Josef Newgarden
9 – James Hinchcliffe
10 – Ed Jones
11 – Alexander Rossi
12 – Tony Kanaan
13 – JR Hildebrand
14 – Mikhail Aleshin
15 – Conor Daly
16 – Max Chilton
17 – Graham Rahal
18 – Charlie Kimball
19 – Will Power (DNF)
20 – Spencer Pigot (DNF)
21 – Carlos Munoz (DNF)

Next: Charlie Kimball previews the 2017 IndyCar season

The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season continues on Sunday, April 9 with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. To keep up with the latest IndyCar news throughout the season follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.