Leading the majority of the laps and having the whole field a lap down, Sebastien Bourdais was the class of the field en route to scoring the victory in the ABC Supply Co. Inc. Wisconsin 250 at the Milwaukee Mile.
“It was unbelievable,” Bourdais said. “It was what we were talking about yesterday and at this place sometimes you got it and when you do, it’s really good.”
Starting from the 11th spot, Bourdais would make his way to the front of the field, using pit strategy to gain the lead at lap 114 when he stayed out while others pitted. He then drove away from the field, continuing to extend his lead over to the run till he had the whole field a lap down. He would make a pit stop at lap 213 without losing the lead, but allowing some competitors to get back on the lead lap. A caution would fly at lap 222 of 250 for Justin Wilson blowing a motor, in which Bourdais stayed out again. He then led the final laps en route to the victory.
It marks his second win of the season and the 34th victory of his career.
“Pretty sweet,” Bourdais commented. “I know, like we say all the time, when we get the job done and beat all these guys, we have a great group of guys and sponsors.”
Helio Castroneves would finish second after having to start from the rear of the field due to missing qualifying as his team didn’t have the car in line in time.
“Certainly it was a tough one,” he commented. “It was difficult to pass. I was pushing, forcing, and moving. Juan (Pablo Montoya) was the hardest one to be honest. At the end of the day, it was a great race but Bourdais was really fast and just gone. I pushed as hard as I could, but just a little bit short. Got us some points for the championship and we’ll keep going.”
With his runner-up, he currently sits third in points, 69 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya – tied with Graham Rahal. Rahal would follow-up his win at Auto Club Speedway with a third place finish after running inside of the top-five throughout the day.
“It was good,” Rahal said. “We had scuff tires on there and I was worried a little bit about some guys having some sticker tires. Everybody keeps working hard and putting us in a position to succeed and the car was really good there. It’s just unfortunate that we got behind Bourdais and Castroneves there. Good day in points – that’s the whole objective right now.”
A big part of Rahal’s success came from how well he restarted, gaining multiple divisions in the first few laps after a restart.
“When I see a hole, I’m going to take it,” he added. “(Justin) Wilson left a hole on the inside and I knew my car was good on the bottom so I went for it. Like I said, right now we have to go and beat the guys and you’re not going to do that by sitting and being defensive.”
Juan Pablo Montoya continued his consistency, finishing fourth to stretch his points lead to 54 points ahead of Scott Dixon. He felt that he had a car early on that could’ve contended for the win.
“We could keep up with Bourdais pretty easy,” he added. “At the end, we made some changes and the car wasn’t as good. Everybody at Penske did a good job and we were able to gain some points.”
Montoya had to fight back after a pit road speeding penalty mid-race, in which he says was a result of the pit road speed button not engaging when he pushed it. Pole sitter Josef Newgarden rounded out the top-five after leading early, followed by Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti, Simon Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter.
Defending series champion Will Power found himself on the sidelines early after he got caught up in an incident with Ryan Briscoe. Briscoe would get loose in turn four, coming up the track and just barely catching Power. The result would be Power hitting the wall, nose first. Power slips back to fifth in points, 70 behind Montoya.
