Bourdais endures trouble to win St. Pete Grand Prix

by Gary Shelton on March 12, 2018 · 0 comments

in Auto racing, general

Bourdais celebrates his second straight victory./ANDREW J. KRAMER

Bourdais celebrates his second straight victory./ANDREW J. KRAMER

Monday, 3 a.m.

Bourdais and Rossi on the podium./ANDREW J. KRAMER

Bourdais and Rossi on the podium./ANDREW J. KRAMER

If nothing else, Sebastian Bourdais is a survivor.

As he celebrated yet another victory in the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, it was hard not to notice.

Bourdais pulled out his second straight win in the race Sunday, coming on late as the field faltered around him.  Bourdais, injured in an accident in last season's  Indy 500, won a race for the fifth straight season.

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Race leader Wickens spins into the wall with 2 laps remaining after contact with Rossi//ANDREW J. KRAMER

Race leader Wickens spins into the wall with 2 laps remaining after contact with Rossi//ANDREW J. KRAMER

He survived last year's accident at Indy. He overcame being near the back of the race. He overcame pole sitter Robert Wickens. He overcame the rest of the field to win.

"The shelving is starting to be a little crowded in St. Pete," Bourdais said when asked about his trophy case. "When we came back in '12, we didn't bring anything. We just came with all the luggage, I went to Ikea, and that was that. There was nothing in the house, and the collection is getting bigger quite nicely. Not the place it was when I was in the Champ Car days, but there's some Daytona trophies and Sebring trophies and Road Atlantas and IndyCar trophies. Yeah, we've managed to win one pretty much every year since '14. I'm pretty happy to keep that streak alive."

Will Power looks on before the race./ANDREW J. KRAMER

Will Power looks on before the race./ANDREW J. KRAMER

Bourdais trailed pole sitter Robert Wickens. But with two laps to go, Wickens bumped into Alexander Rossi coming around Turn 1. Bourdais drove around the mess and took the checkered flag under yellow.

“For me it was very straightforward,” said Bourdais. “Once I knew what the injuries were and there were not going to be any lasting events, then it was like fast forward and get back on the horse and get back to what I do, get back to my life. I don't know any other way.

“It's just a great feeling to be able to, like I said, restart the season this way and make a statement really, because it was obviously not a given.”

Bourdais loved the feeling of the victory.

I was very emotional in the car on the in lap," Bourdais said. "It's tough to put into words, that's for sure. You always get -- I think you get the questions from people, is he going to be the same, is he going to come back, is he this, is he this. I really try not to leave any room for uncertainty as far as what I was going to do and how forward I was going to go by coming back to Gateway last year, two and a half months later. It's been bumpy, it's been tough, it's been everything in between, but I've gotten a lot of support from the CEO to my family to everybody on board. It's been pretty hard for myself I think in some ways, obviously, but more for people around me and certain people, for my wife. It's quite an achievement to be able to restart the season and settle the matter right away and get back on the horse and win another one."

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