Sebastien Bourdais ‘pretty much speechless’ after IndyCar victory

Sebastien Bourdais called himself ‘pretty much speechless’ after winning IndyCar’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to start the 2017 season.

No one expected Sebastien Bourdais to win IndyCar’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday. Not even Sebastien Bourdais.

“I’m pretty much speechless,” the Dale Coyne Racing driver admitted during the post-race press conference, after he had overcome a wreck in qualifying to drive all the way from the rear of the field to Victory Lane.

Bourdais crashed before he could even make a complete qualifying attempt on Saturday and per IndyCar rules was not allowed to continue. That forced the No. 18 car to begin dead last, but the Frenchman benefited from two cautions early in the race as well as some solid pit strategy to run up front for more than 60 of the 110 laps.

It was a well-deserved victory for a driver who hadn’t normally had much luck on the streets of St. Petersburg. In six previous attempts his best finish was sixth place.

“A lot of things come back,” he continued. “I caught myself thinking about 2003, when obviously we started the opposite [way]. We dominated the weekend, were on pole, cleared the field, then all hell broke loose. I found myself tapping the wall in Turn 8 [and] threw it away.

“It was kind of redemption day here. To come out on top with obviously a lot of friends and family on-site, the whole community supporting the effort, it was just a great feeling. I couldn’t really be any happier for Honda and Dale for giving me the opportunity to put the band back together and make it happen.

“Everybody works really, really hard. We’re a small group. There is nobody at the shop that doesn’t travel. But it works. It’s a great little group,” Bourdais declared. “We’re sure not going to stop there. We’re just going to keep on trying.”

If Sunday was redemption day for Sebastien Bourdais, it was bittersweet for his fellow Frenchman Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud finished as the runner-up at the Firestone Grand Prix for the second year in a row and called the weekend difficult, principally because of IndyCar’s switch to Performance Friction Brakes.

“Certainly one of the most difficult we had in a long time,” the defending IndyCar champion said at the press conference. “It was such a well-oiled machine last year. You throw one new component into it—in this case it’s the brakes—and everything goes back to zero.

“That’s basically what happened this weekend. It threw us off. We had problems Friday. Couldn’t really tell what the car was doing because of the brakes. Then we fixed it, I would say, Saturday morning. We made an adjustment for the problems we were having Friday. Then it was a disaster in qualifying.”

Like Bourdais, Pagenaud considered himself lucky to escape the two cautions unharmed after he qualified 14th. He also had issues with needing to save fuel that kept him from being able to run down the No. 18 but wasn’t sure he would have been able to do it regardless.

“Bourdais was untouchable today,” Pagenaud said, qupping, “It’s one-two French. Sorry for the French Revolution, guys.

“I’m very happy for him. It’s [St. Petersburg] been his hometown actually. He’s been here since he moved to America. Dale Coyne and Honda, they’ve shown a lot of strength. Fantastic for them.”

And he wasn’t that disappointed with coming in second considering that last time that happened it was the start of his breathtaking run to the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship.

“We started second last year as well,” he pointed out. “Hopefully it’s our good luck charm.”

Next: IndyCar standings after Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud will aim to stay on top when the Verizon IndyCar Series returns to action in just under a month. The next race is the 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 9.