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Sebastien Bourdais Grabs Repeat Win At The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

It was a wild start to the 2018 IndyCar Series on a bright sunny afternoon as the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is now in the books. After a wild fine three laps the win went to Sebastien Bourdais, who put himself in just the right place to score the last minute victory and picking up a repeat win in St. Pete.

After leading the majority of an incident-filled race, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Robert Wickens looked to be cruising to victory in his Verizon IndyCar Series debut. Instead,  with just two laps to go, he was bumped by Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, spun out and Bourdais inherited the victory.

It was an emotional and exhausting win for Bourdais, who missed half of the 2017 season after a violent crashing during Indianapolis 500 qualifying.

Results Sunday of the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 1.8 mile Streets of St. Petersburg circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Honda, 110, Running
2. (24) Graham Rahal, Honda, 110, Running
3. (12) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 110, Running
4. (7) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 110, Running
5. (6) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 110, Running
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 110, Running
7. (13) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 110, Running
8. (17) Ed Jones, Honda, 110, Running
9. (18) Marco Andretti, Honda, 110, Running
10. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 110, Running
11. (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 110, Running
12. (5) Takuma Sato, Honda, 110, Running
13. (11) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 110, Running
14. (8) Gabby Chaves, Chevrolet, 110, Running
15. (16) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 109, Running
16. (15) Zach Veach, Honda, 109, Running
17. (22) Zachary Claman De Melo, Honda, 109, Running
18. (1) Robert Wickens, Honda, 108, Contact
19. (20) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 108, Running
20. (21) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 107, Running
21. (4) Jordan King, Chevrolet, 107, Running
22. (23) Rene Binder, Chevrolet, 100, Contact
23. (19) Jack Harvey, Honda, 38, Off Course
24. (3) Matheus Leist, Chevrolet, 16, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 86.207 mph
Time of Race: 02:17:48.4954
Margin of victory: Under caution
Cautions: 8 for 24 laps
Lead changes: 11 among 5 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Wickens, Robert 1 – 5
King, Jordan 6 – 10
Wickens, Robert 11 – 24
Bourdais, Sebastien 25 – 38
Wickens, Robert 39 – 59
Rossi, Alexander 60 – 62
Bourdais, Sebastien 63 – 76
Wickens, Robert 77 – 81
Rossi, Alexander 82 – 83
Hunter-Reay, Ryan 84
Wickens, Robert 85 – 108
Bourdais, Sebastien 109 – 110

Verizon IndyCar Series point standings:
Bourdais 51, Rahal 40, Rossi 36, Hinchcliffe 32, Hunter-Reay 31, Dixon 28, Newgarden 26, Jones 24, Andretti 22, Power 20, Kanaan 19, Sato 18, Pagenaud 17, Chaves 16, Wickens 16, Pigot 15, Veach 14, Claman De Melo 13, Chilton 11, Kimball 10, King 10, Binder 8, Harvey 7, Leist 6

James Williams: Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.
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