Sébastien Bourdais secured a memorable victory at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, completing a sensational drive from last on the grid to victory lane at the first round of the 2017 IndyCar season.
After a big incident at the final hairpin during qualifying, the four-time champion was forced to start from the back of the grid, having failed to set a timed lap before his shunt.
However, a masterful strategy call from his Dale Coyne Racing team enabled him to pit under green flag conditions during the early segment of the race, before a full course caution forced the top six to lose out and pit under caution.
Although reigning champion Simon Pagenaud restarted the race in the lead, Bourdais soon stormed up the inside of his fellow compatriot at Turn 1 and from that moment onwards never looked back on his way to the top step of the podium.
Pagenaud ended the 110-lap race a distant second for Penske, on a day where the iconic outfit was struck with poor luck around the Florida street course.
Team-mate and pole sitter Will Power lost the lead after the first caution period to James Hinchcliffe, having initially maintained his advantage at the start, before his afternoon went from bad to worse.
First the 2014 champion was forced to make an unscheduled pit-stop due to a slow puncture, before running over a piece of his pit crew’s equipment upon exiting the pit-lane. This led to a drive-through penalty from race officials, ruining his chances of victory.
Towards the latter stages of the race Power did manage to fight his way back up towards the top of the order, though a mechanical issue struck his car.
This left him circulating the track with a severe power disadvantage, forcing race officials to take action once again and issue him with the black flag.
Four-time champion Scott Dixon came home an important third for Chip Ganassi Racing, after being tipped by many to be in strong contention for race victory. After also dropping down the order due to pitting under caution, Dixon slowly fought his way back through the field.
Ryan Hunter-Reay ended the race a very impressive fourth, despite peeling off into the pits as the rest of the field took the green flag at the start. Hunter-Reay returned to the pits several times during the early stages of the race for system checks and setup alterations but managed to make up ground in the latter stages of the race.
Takuma Sato rounded out the top five, after a strong race for the former Formula 1 racer, having run as high as fourth, on a weekend in which he set the fifth-fastest time during qualifying.
Hélio Castroneves and Marco Andretti ended the race sixth and seventh respectively, after starting alongside each other towards the back of the grid following a far from successful qualifying session.
Josef Newgarden, Hinchcliffe and rookie Ed Jones rounded out the top ten, with reigning IndyLights champion Jones raising many eyebrows during his maiden race after benefiting from the second caution and muscling his way ahead of Andretti at Turn 1 to run as high as third.
Spencer Pigot and Carlos Munoz were the only other retirements from the race, both due to mechanical issues arising on their cars.
Muñoz in particular was involved in a first lap altercation with Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball, with the Colombian racer never fully recovering from the incident.
