He didn’t come out and say it, but maybe this one was owed to Sebastien Bourdais.
Four-time INDYCAR SERIES champion Bourdais earned the overall and GTP class pole Saturday for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The six-hour race starts at 11:40 a.m. ET Sunday on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.
Bourdais produced a lap of 1 minute, 14.592 seconds in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing, winners of the last two NTT INDYCAR SERIES championships. That earned Bourdais his eighth career IMSA pole and second pole of the season, this time by a gap of .225 of a second over the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 driven by Louis Deletraz, whose best lap was 1:14.817.
“It was a weird run,” Bourdais said. “The Porsche never got going and was holding up the No. 31 (Cadillac), and I backed up into some traffic and kind of let everybody go. But at the end of the day, I got a banker lap and one lap, and that was it. Very happy for Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing.
“It’s a six-hour race coming our way, so it probably doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it’s always good to put it up front.”
But there was meaning in taking the top spot at IMS for Bourdais, whose best finish in nine Indianapolis 500 starts was seventh in 2014.
Bourdais finally appeared to click with oval racing at IMS in 2017 and was a favorite to win the Indy 500 pole with Dale Coyne Racing after leading Fast Friday practice on the day before qualifying started. But Bourdais suffered multiple pelvis and hip fractures in a frightening crash on the initial qualifying day during his first run, the opening two laps of which were the fastest of the day.
“I’ve been hit a few times around here, so I know what that feels like,” Bourdais said with a wry grin when asked if the significance of a pole at IMS had hit him. “This place has not always been very gentle with me, so it’s always good to get back on good terms.”
Reigning race winner Mathieu Jaminet qualified third at 1:14.848 in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963.
In the LMP2 class, Nick Boulle drove the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports car to the top qualifying spot. It was his first career IMSA pole.
“I had several moments on the lap,” Boulle said. “I’m on pole at Indy; it’s a dream come true. I had a feeling coming into the weekend it was going to be good.”
Nicky Catsburg won the pole in the GTD PRO class with his lap of 1:23.209 in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06. Laurin Heinrich appeared to earn his first career IMSA pole with his best lap of 1:23.150, but the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was penalized after its ground clearance was found to be less than the minimum allowed in post-qualifying inspection.
Mikkel Grenier won the pole for the GTD class with his best lap of 1:23.537 in the No. 32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3.
BMW, Hyundai Teams Win in Michelin Pilot Challenge
In the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 for the Michelin Pilot Challenge series, the No. 39 CarBAhn Motorsports BMW M4 driven by Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister won overall and in the GS class, while Mason Filippi and Mark Wilkins teamed to drive the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N in the TCR class.
Westphal drove the No. 39, which started sixth with McAlister behind the wheel, to victory by 3.658 seconds over the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT shared by Bryce Ward and Philip Ellis. Former INDY NXT by Firestone driver Robert Megennis and Dillon Machavern rounded out the GS class podium finishers in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4.
Filippi nursed fuel over the closing laps after taking over for Wilkins, who started 11th in the TCR class, to win by 4.427 seconds over former INDYCAR SERIES star Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N. The team owned by INDYCAR SERIES race winner and current Andretti Global strategist Bryan Herta took the top two spots on the podium.
TCR championship leaders Mikey Taylor and Chris Miller completed the podium finishers in the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS.
Westphal took the GS and overall lead for the first time one hour, four minutes into the two-hour race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course, passing Matt Plumb in the No. 46 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage in Turn 1. He lost the lead to Ellis while making his final pit stop nine minutes later but took the top spot for good with about 27 minutes to go when leader Jesse Lazare pitted in the No. 69 Motorsports in Action McLaren Artura.
“You never give up faith,” Westphal said. “We’ve just had some really rotten luck. Sean has been a great opener for me. We’ve been having luck issues, so this was much needed for the team. Hard-earned, well-deserved. I love it here; it’s great.”
McAlister said: “I was really confident in Jeff. He was doing a great job keeping the pace. We saw that we had enough fuel. All in all, he did a great job keeping everybody behind him.”
Wilkins led 48 minutes into the TCR race when he handed the car to Filippi at the pit stop. Filippi did the rest, hitting a fuel mileage number to ensure victory despite his dashboard readout not working while teammate Wilkins’ face was strained with anxiety over the closing laps on the pit box before bursting into a celebratory smile at the checkered flag.
“Mark drove an incredible first stint,” Filippi said. “What a race. These guys crushed the stops.”
Said Wilkins: “Mason did a great job. For Mason and I, it’s been a bit of a challenging season. We’ve had some great results; we’ve had some tough ones. It feels good to win at Indy. I get to kiss the bricks – can’t wait.”
Francis Co-Drives to Lamborghini Victory
In the second 50-minute race for the single-make Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, former INDY NXT by Firestone driver Ernie Francis Jr. co-drove to victory with Giano Taurino in the No. 88 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan. Haitian American Francis also won a Trans Am Series race in 2017 and 2018 at IMS.
Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information on the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
