Sebastien Bourdais's Detroit IndyCar win followed 'massive setbacks'

Sebastien Bourdais says his Detroit IndyCar victory last weekend was a deserved reward for a KVSH Racing team that faced "massive setbacks" pre-season.

The team had to cut back to one full-time car for 2016 after the departure of funded driver Sebastian Saavedra.

Though Bourdais' programme was not in doubt, the reduction in team size led to significant personnel changes and left KVSH beginning the year as a relative underdog.

"We had such a rough winter and it's been such an uphill battle since the beginning of the season so to come out on top means a lot to our organisation," said Bourdais, who followed up his Saturday win with eighth on Sunday.

"We'd been able to put on some pretty stellar performances over the last two or three years and we were really looking forward to building that programme.

"Then we had massive setbacks over the winter that really shook the whole tree down.

"It was tough to see all the efforts be kind of ruined and we're still trying to recover.

"I'm just glad that all the guys that joined us so late in the game are able to get the reward for coming on board and helping us out and making it happen.

"We've got a lot of real race fanatics. Some of them thought about retiring but came out and made it happen.

"We don't have the youngest crew of guys around the car but they have their hearts in it.

"It takes time to rebuild a team and it's really showed unfortunately at the start of the season.

"But [in Detroit] we put on our best game and came back on top. That's pretty special."

Penske dominated much of the Detroit double-header weekend, with Simon Pagenaud taking both poles, Will Power winning the Sunday race and Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves also in contention for the victories.

But in race one Bourdais and Dale Coyne Racing driver Conor Daly were able to snatch first and second by running a more aggressive strategy, leaving Montoya the only Penske driver on the podium.

"They are clearly the best in the field on the street courses this year," Bourdais said of Penske.

"They have been beatable in some other places but on the street courses they just have their stuff figured out and it's been very tough.

"It's a matter of time, resources and smart guys, lots of them, and they have four good drivers too.

"It's tough to come out on top with such a small organisation on our side.

"But when you do, it's awfully satisfying because you know you just beat the best in the business.

"I've been on that side of the fence where I've been in cars that were expected to win and I can tell you that when you do win in a car that is not necessarily judged as the top of the class, it's very gratifying."