Sebastien Bourdais dominates late to win at Milwaukee Mile
Jul 12, 2015, 5:12 PM
Josef Newgarden (67) leads at the start of the IndyCar Series race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis., Sunday, July 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Sebastien Bourdais pulled away following a late caution to win Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, his second IndyCar victory of the season.
Bourdais was dominating before the caution flag came out on Lap 222 after Justin Wilson’s car stalled. He held on when racing resumed for an 18-lap sprint to the finish, turning aside a brief challenge from second-place Helio Castroneves to win by 2.2 seconds.
It was Bourdais’ 34th career victory, and first at an oval since winning at Milwaukee in 2006.
Castroneves had a remarkable run after starting last in the 24-car field. Graham Rahal was third.
Bourdais won what overall was a relatively clean race — but far less stressful for drivers than the frantic, five-wide scrums two weeks ago at the superspeedway in Fontana.
Points leader Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth. Penske teammate Will Power, who won at Milwaukee last year, got knocked out in lap 131 after appearing to get clipped around Turn 4 by Ryan Briscoe’s spinning car.
Briscoe, who started second, said traffic around the third turn took away his air.
Power was among the leaders after a restart two laps earlier off caution. Second in the driver standings coming into the race behind Montoya, Power will fall back on the leaderboard going into next week’s race at Iowa after finishing 22nd.
It’s going to be more difficult for the defending series champion to repeat with four races left in the season.
Chevys held the top two spots and six of the top seven, with Rahal’s Honda being the exception.
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