Bourdais and Conway win in IndyCar doubleheader

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TORONTO (AP) — IndyCar ran two races in Toronto on Sunday, where rain wreaked havoc on both the schedule
and driver strategy.
The series had planned to run one race Saturday and one on Sunday until rain washed out the first event.

It
instead began Sunday morning, roughly five hours before the start of
the second race, and won by Sebastien Bourdais. He broke a 52-race
losing streak dating to 2007 in claiming a dominating win on the dry
street course at Exhibition Place.
But the rain returned for the
second race, and IndyCar officials moved the start up 10 minutes in an
attempt to run as much as possible in dry conditions. The sky eventually
did open, the track became slick and drivers darted to pit road for
rain tires.
When the track began to dry, Mike Conway gambled and
made an early stop to remove his rain tires. A caution minutes later
sent the bulk of the field to pit road to change their tires, and Conway
shot up the leaderboard.
Conway was fifth on the restart, but his
dry tires were far superior to the drivers still racing on rain tires,
and he quickly moved through the field and into the lead. The race,
which had been scheduled to run 65 laps or 80 minutes, whichever came
first, then became a timed race.
A multicar accident stopped the
clock for a cleanup with 4 minutes, 32 seconds remaining, and set up one
final restart. Conway pulled away on the restart and easily held off
Tony Kanaan.
"It was really difficult conditions and we were kind
of struggling for a bit," Conway said. "As soon as I saw the path and a
dry line, I knew it was time to come in (for dry tires). It was great
from there and we just kind of took off and just controlled the race."
It
was the second win of the season for Conway, who walked away from
IndyCar at the end of 2012 season because he no longer wanted to race on
ovals. He was hired this year to split the seat with driver/owner Ed
Carpenter, who was willing to give up his car on road and street
courses.
Ed Carpenter Racing has three victories this season,
including Conway’s win at Texas. But the car owner credited the driver
for making the call to come in for dry tires.
"That’s Mike,"
Carpenter said. "He was out there on the track and he said he was ready
for drys. We probably thought it was a little early, so this (win) is
definitely all him and he did a great job."
Kanaan, third in the first race of the day, was the only IndyCar driver to finish on the podium in both
events.
Will
Power finished third as Chevrolet swept the podium in both races.
Bourdais led points leader Helio Castroneves and Kanaan in the first
race.
Bourdais, who scored his first win since returning to the U.S. in 2011, was ninth in the second race.
The
rain during Race 2 caused one frightening moment when drivers began to
slide on the track when the shower first started. Juan Pablo Montoya
slipped off course into a tire barrier, and was hit from behind moments
later by rookie Mikhail Aleshin.
The contact lifted Montoya’s car
off its back wheels, Aleshin slid under the car, and Montoya’s car
landed on top of Aleshin. Montoya’s car had to be lifted by a tow truck
off of Aleshin, and it dangled in the air with the Colombian still in
the cockpit.
An uninjured Aleshin returned to his pit stand and showed off his helmet, which was marred by visible
tire marks.
"It
was not nice at all because I was sitting under the car," the Russian
driver said. "It was getting so hot from (Montoya’s) car, I couldn’t
breathe at all because the car is very hot. … It was not a nice
feeling at all."
Race 1 had its own harrowing moment. It came to
an almost immediate halt when a multicar crash led to a red flag on the
opening lap. After a long delay, racing resumed with Bourdais leading
the field to green. He never really had to look back and led all but six
of the 65 laps.
It was Bourdais’ first victory since the 2007
Champ Car season finale in Mexico City, but the 32nd of his career. That
broke a tie with Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti to give the Frenchman
eighth place on the all-time wins list.
"I’ve got a big smile
across my face and I can’t seem to get rid of it," Bourdais said after
the victory. "The whole race I was stressed out, it felt too easy, it
felt like it was way too much under control, and it felt like it was
going to go wrong at some point."
It was KVSH Racing’s first
victory since Kanaan won the 2013 Indianapolis 500. Kanaan moved to Chip
Ganassi Racing at the end of last season, and Bourdais replaced him in
the car.
"Hopefully, there’s more of that to come," said KVSH co-owner Jimmy Vasser. "When he gets
on a roll, he’s unbeatable."
It’s
hard to know that in the IndyCar era. But in Champ Car, Bourdais won
four consecutive titles (2004-07). But he left American open-wheel
racing for Formula One following his fourth Champ Car title, and he
never came close to posting the same success.
"It’s been quite a
journey, but that’s the career of a race car driver," Bourdais said.
"You’re only as good as your car is and you get some ups and downs and
you gotta fight through and hope you keep the motivation and that you
keep challenging yourself."

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