IndyCar – Sébastien Bourdais triumphs in St Petersburg

It is an understatement to say that the start of this opening round, in St Petersburg (Florida), was lively. From the second turn, while fighting with pole sitter Robert Wickens (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports / Honda), Will Power (Team Penske / Chevrolet) spun and lightly hit the wall with his wing back.

Graham Rahal (RLL / Honda) also made a mistake, before the third interruption of the race occurred shortly before the 30th lap, when Matheus Leist (AJ Foyt / Chevrolet) crashed his mount into a wall. Too bad, the 19-year-old Brazilian rookie had, until then, had an impeccable first weekend.

On the 35th lap, the safety car intervened again after a collision at the first corner between Takuma Sato (RLL / Honda) and Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing / Honda), while Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing / Honda) holds the reins of the race. The New Zealander will be relegated to the back of the pack because he is found guilty of the collision with his Japanese rival.

With red tires on the line, Bourdais lost three places in quick succession to Robert Wickens, Alexander Red and Marco Andretti. But thanks to a daring strategy and steering which he has the secret to, the Frenchman remains in the fight.

At seven then three laps from the goal, two final yellow flags are waved. During the last, Rossi tries to take the advantage of Wickens but hits him. A godsend for Bourdais, third, who is heading towards a victory far from undeserved, even if Wickens was the strongest this weekend.

Part 14^e, the Sarthois of Dale Coyne Racing offers his second victory in a row on the streets of St Petersburg, he who lives only a few kilometers from the circuit. He finished ahead of Graham Rahal (RLL / Honda), who started last, Alexander Rossi and James Hinchciffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports), whose fourth place was not enough to console Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

Behind after encountering a problem in the pit lane, simon pagenaud takes the checkered flag in thirteenth position. A day to forget for Team Penske, Josef Newgarden could not do better than seventh and Will Power tenth.

Race ranking

Find the full report of the opening event of the 2018 season of IndyCar Series, produced by our special correspondent in St Petersburg, in issue 2156 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.