Merci Beaucoup! Wisconsin 250
ABC Supply Co. Inc. Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest, West Allis, Wis. (July 12, 2015)
(as presented by the Metro Milwaukee Honda Dealers)
At the oldest continuously operated race track in North America, driver Sebastien Bourdais and the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing Chevrolet experienced the bliss of a faultless performance as they cruised to victory in Sunday’s race. In fact, Bourdais’ lead in the last half of the race grew to the point where he was able to pit for tires and return to the track still in the #1 position. This was Bourdais’ second win here – the first occurred in 2006.
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Team Hydroxycut -KVSH Racing Chevrolet, race winner): “On these ovals, you can go from hero to zero and back to hero again. I guess that’s my story. It’s so much about momentum when you can feel one with the car, and today the guys gave me an awesome car. It felt pretty good off the truck and I thought, ‘This could be a pretty good weekend.’ And then we messed up qualifying. Never did I think we could come up through the field and pass everybody. It’s just unbelievable. It’s what these places do to you. When the car is right, it’s so, so special.”
Strong competitor Helio Castroneves in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet almost caught Bourdais despite starting the race in the #24 (last place position) due to a qualifying rules violation. To pass all of the cars ahead of him and end only 2.23 seconds off the checkered flag was a real accomplishment.
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, second place): “I was pushing to the limit, no question (about it.) I knew the Hitachi car would be very good, but the 11 car (Sebastien Bourdais) was very fast. That seemed to be the key here. That was a hell of a job by the guys. We had a little miscue with qualifying, but we never lost faith. We focused on the race. I’m just so proud and honored to be part of this team. ”
Graham Rahal in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda took third place having moved up three places from a #6 starting position. Rahal and Castroneves are now tied in total points this season at 370.
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Mi-Jack Honda, third place): “These Mi-Jack Steak ‘n Shake boys did a heck of a job today. We’ve been working really hard, just putting ourselves in a position to succeed. This team put us in that position today. They got us three spots in the pits and I got a couple more on the restart and it was clear sailing from there. We were looking at a three-stop strategy early on and I think we were the only ones that could do it and then we bailed and I was frustrated at the time, but with the way the yellows worked out it was fine. I was a lot quicker than Helio (Castroneves) at the end, but I just couldn’t get around him. This is a good points day for us. I think we are tied for third. It’s been a good year for us and this is No. 5 for podiums. We wanted to beat Helio (Castroneves) bad, wanted to pull that gap in points, but it looks like he’s tied with us. We’ll just keep pushing away. We’re proud to fly the flag for Honda. That’s our goal, that’s our job and we’re proud to do it.”
Overall series points leader Juan Pablo Montoya (with 439) claimed a respectable fourth place with just four races left in the season. Barring a DNF (Did not finish) in one of these future races, it looks like Montoya will claim the 2015 IndyCar Series trophy.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “It was completely my mistake on the pit road speeding penalty. I had my finger on the (pit road speed limiter) button, but it’s really bumpy getting onto pit road, so I don’t know if I didn’t hit it or if I hit it twice. That put us behind a bit. With about 120 laps to go, I told the guys that I think we can make it on one more stop and we did it. It’s great. Our Verizon Chevy was really good today. We grew our points lead with only four races to go. The crowd was fantastic. We always want to see the stands full when we race. It was a solid crowd today and that made it more fun behind the wheel.”
Finishing out the field…
Fin. Start Car Lap Running
Pos. Pos. # Driver Name Car Name /Reason Out
5 1 67 Josef Newgarden Hartman Oil CFH Racing Chevrolet 250 Running
6 4 10 Tony Kanaan NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 250 Running
7 10 9 Scott Dixon Cottonelle Chevrolet 250 Running
8 9 27 Marco Andretti Snapple Honda 250 Running
9 17 22 Simon Pagenaud Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet 250 Running
10 22 20 Ed Carpenter Fuzzy’s Vodka CFH Racing Chevrolet 250 Running
11 12 98 Gabby Chaves (R) Bowers & Wilkins/Curb Honda 250 Running
12 7 83 Charlie Kimball NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet 250 Running
13 16 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay DHL Honda 250 Running
14 13 14 Takuma Sato ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda 250 Running
15 18 26 Carlos Munoz AndrettiTV Cinsay Honda 250 Running
16 20 19 Tristan Vautier Dale Coyne Racing Honda 248 Running
17 21 41 Jack Hawksworth ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda 221 Running
18 15 25 Justin Wilson Andretti Autosport Honda 219 Mechanical
19 3 8 Sage Karam (R) Comfort Revolution/Big Machine Records Chev. 183 Contact
20 19 4 Stefano Coletti (R) KV Racing Technology Chevrolet 156 Mechanical
21 2 5 Ryan Briscoe Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Honda 130 Contact
22 14 1 Will Power Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet 130 Contact
23 5 7 James Jakes Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 113 Mechanical
24 23 18 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Honda 27 Handling