Sebastien Bourdais Race Summary:
Sebastien Bourdais had a challenging race today in the No. 18 Team Mouser Electronics/Molex – Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan car finishing 19th in the Honda Indy Toronto on the temporary street circuit in Toronto, Canada. Bourdais started 17th, however worked his way up to 11th during the first stint of the race. After pitting the team made some changes and put on black tires. Shortly thereafter, Bourdais spun in Turn 1 and the back end of the car hit the wall damaging the rear wing. Bourdais pitted for a new wing, but lost two laps as the repairs were made essentially ending his race.
Sebastien Bourdais Race Quote:
“It was a tough weekend all around for the Mouser Electronics/Molex team. I thought we had something pretty good in qualifying that could help us accomplish the usual good starting position in Toronto, but I wasn’t comfortable enough with the conditions (wet track) to challenge the car for the one lap. I didn’t do a good job, we didn’t make it through and that put us at the back of the field.”
“We tried something for the warm-up this morning and the car was far worse than it had been. So we un-winded that and threw a Hail Mary at it for the race, but the car still wasn’t quite there. It was okay on the Firestone red (alternate) tires, then we made a couple of changes during the first stop and put black (primary) tires on. As soon as we put on the blacks the car became extremely catchy, snappy and unpredictable. I made a couple of mistakes where I almost crashed then I got into turn one and I have no idea what happened. It felt like I didn’t really slow down. The car started to crab and go sideways under braking and from there I couldn’t recover. I went backwards into the tires, not bad enough to put us out of the race, but bad enough that I had to come in and change the rear wing. We lost two laps and from there it was just about collecting data and bringing it home. It was just a very disappointing weekend. I really wanted to do a lot more for the Mouser Electronics, Molex guys, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be this weekend.”
Fast Facts:
- Bourdais earned 11 points today and is now 11th in the championship standings with 265 points on the strength of four top-10 finishes (three in the top-five) with a win at St. Petersburg, a fourth place finish in the INDYCAR GP and a fifth at Barber Motorsports Park (eighth in Texas).
- In 14 starts at Toronto Bourdais has finished in the top 10 12 times with eight top-five showings, five podium performances and two wins (2004 and 2014 Race 1, both from the pole).
- In 14 Toronto races Bourdais has completed 1147 of a possible 1156 laps (completed 84 of a possible 85 in 2012, 67 of 73 in 2007 and 83 of 85 in 2017).
- 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 Honda Indy Toronto was Bourdais’ 183rd Verizon IndyCar Series start. He 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.
Next Race and Broadcast Times:
Round 13 of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series, will be the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, July 29, on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course permanent road circuit at Lexington, Ohio. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN at 3:00 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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