LONG BEACH, California – Sebastien Bourdais was left fuming after a strong performance was undone and left him with a 13th-place finish in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday.
After starting ninth, the 39-year-old Frenchman began methodically picking off the competition, breaking into the top five by Lap 11.
The first of many moments – perhaps the most memorable of the day – came on Lap 47 when he pulled a three-wide move to the outside of Scott Dixon, who was passing the lapped car of Spencer Pigot. As the trio approached Turn 1 and the slower lapped car of Matheus Leist, Bourdais crossed over the line of pit exit before swinging across the front of Dixon and Pigot and squeezing inside Leist to complete the electrifying move into second place.
However, Bourdais was ordered to give the position back to Dixon six laps later when INDYCAR stewards deemed the maneuver an illegal pass due to crossing the line at pit exit. From the seat of the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda, Bourdais had a different viewpoint.
“It was (two laps) after the restart and Dixon is getting a run on whoever is in front of him and I’m getting a run on both, and I’m using push-to-pass, which nobody did,” said Bourdais, a three-time winner at Long Beach.
“As soon as I crossed the start/finish line, I hit the button because that’s when it becomes active again. Next thing you know, I’m getting the run of hell and I make the move on Scott when they’re side by side already. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do and what I did wrong because I make the move and then he dumps me in pit (exit) lane.”
Bourdais contended he had to make an evasive maneuver into the pit exit lane to avoid crashing into Dixon. And it didn’t matter to him that, soon after yielding the position back to Dixon from INDYCAR’s order, he passed the Chip Ganassi Racing driver again for the second spot.
“I don’t see where is the violation,” the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan pilot said, “but they deemed that wrong and got me really (wound) up.
“I was straight pissed off because, when I make a mistake or I violate a rule or something, I’m the first one to raise my hand. But I did nothing wrong on that one.”
A flux of pit stops handed the lead to the four-time Indy car champion on Lap 56, but he was left at the wrong end of a strategy call to pit four laps later after teammate Zachary Claman De Melo crashed in Turn 10. Bourdais entered the pits a tick after they full-course caution was signaled, meaning he couldn’t take on fuel or tires without incurring another penalty. So he drove through the pits at the slower speed, losing significant track position, before making a full, legal pit stop on Lap 62.
The outcome dropped him to 11th place. Stuck mid-pack, Bourdais was run into from behind six laps later by rookie Jordan King at the Turn 11 hairpin. Bourdais was able to continue but the contact ruined any hopes for a top-10 finish.
“These races turn into a circus when that happens and, unfortunately, it was somewhat self-inflicted,” Bourdais said. “We stayed out (in the laps before Claman De Melo’s incident) and we shouldn’t have. With the way the rules are, you just always want to be on the early side of the (pit) window.
“We just took a chance and paid the full price for it. On top of that, you end up racing idiots, who close the doors and don’t end up leaving you any room. I ended up being side by side with (Charlie) Kimball. He turns on me when we’re already side by side, we make contact (and) he bends both of my toe links on the right side. The car is a mess after that and I end up in the marbles at Turn 9. And then Jordan feels like a million dollars, dumps it in there and turns us around.”
After winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to open the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Bourdais has been plagued by issues in the past two races. At the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix on April 7, Bourdais won the pole but incurred a penalty for running into a crewman on his first stop. He also finished 13th in that race.
He sits fourth in the standings after three of 17 races, but is left wondering again what might have been.
“It’s just such a disappointment,” Bourdais admitted. “Just drove probably one of my best races in quite some time. The car was really very strong under braking and made some really good passes. We were really competitive, to get nothing out of it.”
The Verizon IndyCar Series returns to action Sunday, April 22 with the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Race coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.