Bourdais survives carnage to win at Toronto
source:
lolacars.com
Sebastien Bourdais scored a "hat trick" today in the 19th Molson Indy Toronto
with a conclusive victory on the 1.755-mile Exhibition Place street circuit.
The driver of Newman/Haas Lola B2/00 racer won his third race in a row, leading
75 of 84 total laps. Bourdais claimed the lead in the points chase for Champ
Car's Vanderbilt Cup with 164 points.
Avoiding trouble behind him that resulted in seven full-course cautions, pole
man Bourdais relied on a well developed Lola chassis to keep him ahead of his
pursuers. "You know, I just pushed really hard and tried to pit early on the
second stop to make sure we were not going to get stopped by a yellow. I put a
very good lap [the best of the race on lap 58] and just pulled away. After that
it was a pretty easy race. I think we did a really good job today," he said.
1996 Champ Car titleholder Jimmy Vasser, starting 11th secured his best Molson
Indy Toronto finish in 2nd place, marking his 31st podium in his 189th
consecutive start and moving to 6th in the points chase (101) for the PK Lola
team which Vasser also co-owns. Patrick Carpentier too, claimed his best
Toronto finish in the Forsythe Lola from 6th on the grid, overcoming two
pit-stop stalls and a brake bias problem to take the final podium slot and
keeping third in points with 129. "I managed to stay out of trouble," the
Canadian veteran laughed. "I am a better racer than qualifier and that showed
today."