Bourdais Laments “Frustrating End” to GTP Title Chase

Sebastien Bourdais has all but conceded to Porsche Penske Motorsport in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title race, after a puncture in Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway put a final dash into his and Renger van der Zande’s championship chances.

The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R recorded an eighth place finish after claiming pole and leading a race-high 54 laps but succumbed to a right-rear puncture on Bourdais’ out lap with less than 90 minutes to go.

Bourdais was left confused as he had “no idea” how the puncture occurred that ultimately cost the car three laps.

“I have no idea, like no idea,” he told Sportscar365.

“On the out lap I didn’t feel any contact. I certainly didn’t touch anyone, and the tire went down like that, just braking for [Turn] 12. I went straight because the car was on three wheels, and I thought we were broken. Suspension or something.

“I didn’t understand right away that it was the tire but at that point I was on the oval backward so I would have had to cross the entire grass to make it to pit lane. I was really confused to be honest. I didn’t think it was the tire.

“By the the time I made it back around the whole car was torn apart. I tried to come in slow but it didn’t matter.”

Bourdais led the opening stages after a fierce battle with Porsche Penske’s Felipe Nasr, with the CGR crew regaining its advantage near the halfway mark on a drying track, despite temporarily losing ground to the No. 6 Porsche and Romain Grosjean’s charging Lamborghini SC63.

Despite showing strong dry-weather pace, Bourdais indicated the Cadillac struggled more than its position on track.

“I don’t think we were anything special in the race to be honest,” he admitted.

“I think the Acura and the Porsche were faster. The Acura set a blistering lap which we would have never been able to do. We were OK, but we were nothing special.

“We really struggled in traffic. As soon as we were in someone’s wake we just really couldn’t do anything with it. Losing the front, losing the rear.

“So it was difficult but we gave ourselves a chance. We were in contention. It turned into a fuel race and the Bimmers ended up winning it so anything could have happened.”

With the gap to the GTP points-leading leading No. 7 Porsche crew now sitting at 164, Bourdais and van der Zande’s title chances have all but faded heading into next month’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans, with both factory Porsche 963s only having to roll off the grid at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to ensure a championship for either the Nos. 7 or 6 cars.

“Really frustrating end to the season there,” said Bourdais.

“We were podium contenders or podium finishers pretty much the whole season and gave ourselves a chance to win the championship, and a tire delaminated at Road America and here we got a puncture, so I don’t know.

He added: “I don’t think [the championship is] even possible anymore to be honest.

“We’ll try to finish on a high and win a race. That’s what you go for anyway, but I don’t think we can win the championship anymore, so we’ll just see what happens.”