One Kiss of Indy’s Bricks Isn’t Enough for Bourdais
Photo credit LAT/Michael Levitt - Courtesy of IMSA
Sebastian Bourdais has already experienced the sweet taste of victory by kissing the bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But one kiss eleven years ago after winning a NASCAR Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at the speedway isn’t enough for the Frenchman.
Bourdais, who’ll share Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R with co-driver Ranger van der Zande in the GTP class, is hoping this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks will be his chance to get reaquainted with the bricks that make up Indy’s start-finish line.
Looking back to that win with co-driver Alex Popow, Bourdais remembers it as a great day.
“Victories and firsts like that are always fond memories, especially with the way we had to do it because I think we had to go through the field twice – once in the dry and once on the wets. The weather was quite interesting; lots of precipitation and chaos in the race. It’s always those kinds of races that you reflect on later and it’s the only time that I kissed the bricks, so it was a pretty cool day.”
Bourdais is no stranger to Indy. In addition to his two Grand-Am Series starts, he’s raced in the 500 nine times with a best finish of seventh in 2014. He also has ten INDYCAR starts on Indy’s 2.439-mile road course, finishing fourth three times.
No doubt the atmosphere at the speedway will be different this weekend from the month of May. But Boudais believes it’ll still hold a special kind of magic for the sports cars.
Bourdais heading into Turn 1 of Indy’s road course..
Photo credit LAT/Michael Levitt - Courtesy of IMSA
“The place is amazing. When you enter the grounds, it’s a very special place and it brings a lot of memories. Every time it’s race day at IMS it has a different vibe. A lot of people are going to show up, I hope. It’s been asked a lot that sports cars come back and I’m fully anticipating a great racing weekend with a big crowd.
“This place deserves a big crowd because it’s such a big place, and I think Indianapolis being such a motor racing city is always responding well to good shows. We have that in IMSA right now. It’s great to be part of it with Cadillac Racing and it’s a home race with Chip Ganassi Racing, so a lot of things to look forward to.”
This weekend’s race will run the standard sprint race length of 2-hours, 40-minutes before becoming a six-hour endurance race in 2024. Bourdais believes Indy adds value to sports car racing in general and IMSA, in particular, and its vision for the future.
“With Roger Penske putting so much energy and finance into bringing IMS to its full potential that everybody wants to see in the U.S. and worldwide, I think it makes sense to have a race part of the IMSA schedule.
‘There’s a huge manufacturer push right now. The interest in endurance racing is getting quite incredible to the point where it's actually going to be difficult to be invited and participate. I’m really happy to see it grow and earn its place back at IMS. All we can hope for is it reaches a peak and attendance is there and everybody brings the energy that a race needs to be successful.”
Bourdais crossing the bricks he hopes to kiss again this weekend at Indy.
Photo credit LAT/Michael Levitt - Courtesy of IMSA
Much of the upsurge in interest in sports car racing has been driven by rule changes that allow for crossover from IMSA’s Grand Touring Prototype class (GTP) to the FIA’s World Endurance Championship Hypercar class, and vice versa.
The new hybrid cars are much more complex than the Daytona Prototypes they replaced and require new driving styles and strategies.
Like everyone else, Bourdais is learning along the way.
“It’s a completely new car and we at Cadillac have not really been in a different position than anybody else. We’re figuring things out along the way.
“It was good to go testing (at IMS); it was really the first test to prepare for Indy since Sebring. So, we learned quite a bit of things about the car, and we went to Road America and it was definitely beneficial. We were on pace and happier right away. The race weekend didn’t necessarily turn out the way we wanted, but it definitely felt like we found a step in terms of pace.
“It’s a classification that changes a lot. We can see that some cars use the tires better than others depending on the conditions. We’ve been using the harder tire from Michelin ever since Watkins Glen and it’s definitely flipped the order a little bit. The Cadillacs were a bit happier on softer compounds, taking better care of the tires.
“Now that it’s the harder tire through the summer and it’s going to hold true at Indy, it has been harder for us to extract the most out of it and others have been able to kind of pop up in terms of performance. It’s interesting to see the evolution track to track and circumstances after another. I think it’s all very close. The BoP (Balance of Performance) has worked well. It’s been good racing and we’ve seen a lot of different winners, so I think the crowd has a lot to look forward to.
“For us, the GTP has been quite different because it’s a heavier car with better tires but more weight with a lot less downforce, so it’s a different combination and you have to be more patient with the car but you still have to push rally hard. The racing has been ferocious, so you have to earn it.”
Bourdais and crew members talk it out at July test at Indianapolis.
Photo credit LAT/Michael Levitt - Courtesy of IMSA
When it comes to this weekend’s race at Indy, Bourdais believes getting around slower traffic will be key.
“It’s very much a one-groove racetrack and every time you have to get out of that groove – and you will have to – it will make it really difficult. Marbles build up really fast, so for us in the GTPs not being than much faster than the LMP2s and certainly not being any faster in the braking zones, the interaction is going to be quite tricky and will decide the race. How easily your car gets to maneuver around people will be key.
‘Technically, I think it’s a track that is very tricky because you have very pointy apexes and you’re basically braking and shooting for a very specific point. Not like a flowing corner and therefore the margin to hit the apex or not is very small and critical, because if you hit the apex it dictates a very different corner than if you are a half a foot away or not. There is no adjustment from there and they are all pretty long corners, so I think a good front end and getting the car to maneuver around is critical.”
While Ganassi’s sports car program hasn’t had the success of the IndyCar side, Bourdais would like nothing better than to turn that around at Indy.
“Chip Ganassi Racing has had an incredible season, especially on the IndyCar side. They keep showing incredible strength in that program. Obviously, the start of the season for us has been quite challenging. But we’ve shown speed. We’ve just struggled to put weekends together.
“Road America was a bit of a turning point after a good test at Indy, so we sure hope we can bring some success to the team at home.
GM’s headquarters are not very far away from Indy, so it’s time for us to get that Cadillac to the front. And there would be no better place than the Indy road course.”
And no better place for another kiss.