Sebastien Bourdais Qualifying Summary:
Sebastien Bourdais qualified the No. 18 Team SealMaster – Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda/Dallara/Firestone car with his best qualifying effort in five attempts on the Indianapolis road course qualifying third for tomorrow’s INDYCAR Grand Prix. Bourdais started the first round of qualifying in Group 2 and posted the fastest lap of the 12 drivers in his group. Advancing to round 2, Bourdais recorded the fifth fastest lap and advanced to the final round of qualifying, the Firestone Fast Six. This is the second time in four road/street events this season that Bourdais has advanced to the final round. In the Firestone Fast Six, the team waited until approximately three minutes were left in the six-minute session and made one run on the red alternate Firestone tires. On his first timed lap, Bourdais took over the top spot on the speed charts, however two drivers were able to record faster laps on their last timed lap dropping Bourdais to third overall. The third place qualifying spot surpasses his previous best of sixth on the Indianapolis road course in 2014 and 2015.
Sebastien Bourdais Qualifying Quote:
“It was a really good day for the SealMaster Honda No. 18 team. The guys did a really good job. It was a full day, very compact, very tough on the boys, but everybody executed well. We tried a lot of things despite the very short condensed schedule and we made it work again. It is such an awesome feeling honestly. What’s happening this year is just amazing if you put it in perspective what that group has at its disposal to make what we are doing happen. My hat is off to the whole group. We have something pretty special. We’ve got something pretty special. We are making it work and it’s really enjoyable inside the car. I kind of messed it up for them on the last run in qualifying. I made a mistake on my last lap. It probably would have been good enough for pole, but last time I was on pole it didn’t really work out. We will start third tomorrow and see what we can do, but I am definitely feeling pretty comfortable for tomorrow.”
Fast Facts:
- This is Bourdais’ third top-three qualifying effort and fourth top-10 in the first five races of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. In addition to today’s third place qualifying effort, he captured the pole at Phoenix, started ninth at Long Beach and third Barber.
- This is the third time Bourdais has advanced to Round 2 of road/street qualifying (Long Beach and Barber) and the second time he has made the Firestone Fast Six (the final round) in four road/street races this year (also did it at Barber).
- This is Bourdais best qualifying effort in five attempts on the Indianapolis road course. His previous best was sixth in 2017. He has now qualified in the top-10 all five times (seventh in 2014 and 2015, eighth in 2016).
- In four previous INDYCAR Grand Prix’s he has two top-five finishes, fourth in 2014 and 2015.
- Bourdais is third in the championship standings with 119 points. He won at St. Petersburg, placed fifth at Barber and finished 13th at Phoenix and Long Beach.
- Bourdais is the only driver to have led laps in the first four races of the 2018 season. His total of 103 laps led is third behind Robert Wickens, 113 and Josef Newgarden, 106.
- Bourdais is contesting his 13th Verizon IndyCar Series season, third with Dale Coyne Racing and first with Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan.
- The 2018 INDYCAR Grand Prix will be Bourdais’ 176th Verizon IndyCar Series start and fifth on the Indianapolis road course in an Indy car (competed on the Indy road course in Grand AM Rolex Sports Cars and won in 2012).
- In 175 career IndyCar starts, Bourdais has won 37 races (sixth all-time) and captured 34 pole positions (seventh all-time).
- Bourdais is the only driver to win four consecutive IndyCar championships (2004 – 2007).
- Bourdais, 39, is a native of Le Mans, France but resides in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Broadcast:
Round 5 of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season will be the IndyCar Grand Prix, May 11-12, on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, IN. The race will be broadcast live on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET. It is also available on radio: XM 209 and IMS IndyCar Radio as well as online: IndyCar.com and Verizon IndyCar 15 app.
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