IndyCar: Sebastien Bourdais returning to race at Gateway

After over three months of being on the sideline as a result of a horrific crash in Indianapolis 500 qualifying, Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais is set to return to IndyCar racing this weekend at Gateway.

On his third qualifying lap for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, May 20th, 2017, IndyCar driver Sebastien Bourdais hit the turn two wall nearly head-on at full speed. This caused his #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda to go out of control and flip onto its top.

At the time of the wreck, Bourdais was on pace to be the fastest qualifier heading into the second day of qualifications the following day just one week before the race took place.

Bourdais suffered a broken hip and broken pelvis as a result of the wreck. However, after a rehabilitation period of nearly three months, doctors cleared him to return to racing. It was just announced that he would make his return at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois this Saturday, August 26th, 2017 just over three months after the horrific accident.

It was originally reported that Bourdais would miss the remainder of the 2017 season as a result of the heavy crash. However, he tested at Mid-Ohio a couple of weeks ago and has since been cleared to return, which he will do at Gateway this weekend.

The 38-year-old Frenchman started off the 2017 season going from last (21st) place to first place at the opening race at St. Petersburg. He became the first driver to do so since Scott Dixon pulled off the historic feat at Mid-Ohio in the 2014 season.

Bourdais held onto his lead in the championship standings after a 2nd place finish in the second race of the season at Long Beach and an 8th place finish in the third race of the season at Barber.

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Let’s step aside for a second. At the time, people, including the Dale Coyne Racing team themselves, did not really consider Bourdais a true championship contender despite the fact that he sat atop the standings after each of the first three races of the season. They did not feel that the #18 Honda would be competitive on superspeedways, as Dale Coyne Racing really has never been known for being fast on oval tracks.

However, as we saw during his qualification run for the Indianapolis 500, Bourdais was extremely fast, so had it not been for his wreck, he very well could be in the championship hunt right now. And that speed didn’t just show up during qualifying, either. The day before his wreck, he set the fastest lap time in a Fast Friday practice since 1996 with a lap at 233.116 miles per hour.

Alright; back to the premise of the article. Following the race at Barber, however, Bourdais lost his lead in the championship standings thanks to a first-lap crash at Phoenix. He was then buried deeper in the standings after engine issues ruined what could have been a very successful race for him at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Since Bourdais’ wreck, Dale Coyne Racing has used a number of different replacement drivers in his #18 Honda. James Davison was the first substitute in the Indianapolis 500, and he led two laps of the race after starting in last (33rd) place, further proving that the car had some serious speed.

At the Belle Isle doubleheader, Esteban Gutierrez took over the driving duties of the #18 Honda for his first two career IndyCar races before being replaced by Tristan Vautier at Texas. Vautier put on a show at Texas in his first IndyCar race since 2015, which further proved that the car had serious speed. He qualified in 5th place and led 15 laps of the race. However, he was caught up in a wreck just after the halfway point of the race, which ruined his chances at what would have been an extreme upset victory.

From the Road America race, the race that succeeded the Texas race, up until now, Gutierrez has driven the #18 Honda, giving him a total of seven career IndyCar starts. He will now be without a ride, while Ed Jones, the lone full-time rookie in the field who drives the #19 Dale Coyne Honda, will once again have a veteran teammate to look up to in Bourdais, which really benefited him in the early stages of this season.

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