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Detroit IndyCar: Sebastien Bourdais wins ahead of Conor Daly

Sebastien Bourdais snatched his first IndyCar win of the season from the Team Penske quartet with an aggressive fuel strategy in the first race of the Detroit double header weekend

Championship leader Simon Pagenaud and Penske Dallara-Chevrolet team-mate Helio Castroneves stormed away from the rest of the field from their front row starting positions, but an early impact by ex-Formula 1 driver Max Chilton into the wall on the back straight meant they went off strategy.

With the rest of the field having already pitted before lap 10 of 70, the pair opted to eke out their first stint to switch to a two-stop strategy.

On the restart it was Will Power who tiptoed into race-winning contention, passing Juan Pablo Montoya and Carlos Munoz to move into third position.

After Pagenaud and Castroneves pitted on laps 23 and 24 it was Power and Montoya who were leading, but Pagenaud found his way back into the lead after the second stops, taking advantage of a pit-exiting Montoya's tussle with Power.

Under those stops Bourdais had quietly put himself into the top four places by running an aggressive fuel strategy compared to the fuel-saving Penske men.

KVSH Racing driver Bourdais maintained fourth after the second yellow flag, which was caused by a loose wheel from Power's Dallara-Chevy at the Turn 7 right-hander at the end of the back stretch.

On the final stops with just 10 laps remaining a lightning fuel-only stop for Bourdais from the lead put him out in second, crucially ahead of Castroneves and Pagenaud, and behind only Conor Daly who had one stop to make.

Daly opted for a similar strategy to take second ahead of Montoya, leaving four-time CART champion Bourdais to claim the win.

Castroneves and Pagenaud couldn't hold on in their fuel-saving strategy, and were forced to pit, leaving them finishing fifth and 13th respectively.

RESULTS - 70 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1h40m51.6838s
2 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 2.0401s
3 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 5.7067s
4 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 7.4793s
5 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 40.0139s
6 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 40.7592s
7 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 42.2990s
8 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 44.4699s
9 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 45.5832s
10 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 48.2961s
11 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 51.1067s
12 Gabby Chaves Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 51.3256s
13 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 52.5313s
14 Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m06.2350s
15 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m14.1421s
16 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1 Lap
17 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
18 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 5 Laps
19 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Electrical
20 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet Mechanical
21 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Contact
22 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda Mechanical

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