INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Popow won the Inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bourdais, who drove the anchor leg for Starworks Motorsport in the #2 Soloson Ford/Riley, pulled away on the final restart on the 2.534-mile Indy road course to clinch the win.
“It’s amazing, sitting here in first place at the Brickyard — it’s like a dream come true,” Popow said. “This is something I’ve been chasing all year.”
The No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley driven by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas for the Chip Ganassi Racing operation limped home second in the three-hour event, which was dotted by heavy rain in the early going and nine full-course cautions in total.
“I think this hat says it all: Super Weekend,” Pruett said. “I think most everything took place — it rained, we had a tore-up race car — but we managed to scratch back and finish second.”
Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor took third in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Corvette DP.
The Ganassi team made up of Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon finished in fourth place. Juan Pablo Montoya caused several controversies with his run, first bumping Joao Barbosa and then Ryan Dalziel.
Six Daytona teams traded the lead. The team of Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio led the most laps (36). Bourdais sped past Dalziel in the 75th of 91 laps and never looked back.
Pruett and Rojas extended their season points lead to 11 points over Dalziel and Potolicchio.
Andy Lally and John Potter won in the Grand Touring (GT) class, finishing fifth overall.
“Just amazing. We just won Indy,” said Lally. “I’ve said it 60 times since we took the checkered flag, but it was such a hard-fought battle all day long with those guys.”
GT class pole winners Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito finished second in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/ModSpace Mazda RX-8, followed by No. 59 The Brumos Companies Porsche GT3 co-drivers Andrew Davis and Leh Keen in third.
Top Five:
1. #2 Sebastien Bourdais/Alex Popow
2. #01 Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas
3. #10 Max Angelelli/Ricky Taylor
4. #02 Jammie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon
4. #44 Andy Lally/John Potter won the GT class, finishing fifth overall.
Story by: Kevin Proot
Photos by: Larry Vancil and Kevin Proot
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