Bourdais visits Indy, aims for Sonoma race return
Sebastien Bourdais, who suffered a 227mph crash during qualifying for the Indy 500, visited Indianapolis Motor Speedway on raceday morning and restated his aim to return to the cockpit for IndyCar’s season finale at Sonoma.
Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images
The Frenchman suffered multiple pelvic fractures and also fractured his right hip, and arrived at IMS media center moving slowly on crutches.
He said: “It is a long process and there is no reason to rush. I can’t put any weight on my right leg for another five weeks but I want to be ready when it matters.
“But I’m shooting for the end of the season, Sonoma, that’s just a good target.”
Asked why he had come to the race, Bourdais said: “It’s important to show that I’m still in good spirits, to show that physically I’m doing well and I have no intention to let this incident stop my career or anything.
“And it’s even more important to come back before the end of the season because otherwise it’s going to be an offseason with a lot of questions. And we’ll have a quick car in Sonoma, so we can kind of kickstart 2018 on some good basis.”
Confident in Davison at Indy
Talking about his stand-in for today’s race, James Davison, Bourdais commented: “He really has got a decent shot to do something good. It really doesn’t matter what where you start. It’s about your racecar, and from what I’ve seen from Carb Day, he was pretty impressive.
“I knew we had a great car and the [new] car is probably just as good, but probably not as quick as it use to be because all the tricks that were in the original racecar are in the trash right now. It’s too bad.
“[Davison] might not have enough to win the race but it will be something to put on a strong showing and be able to put up a great result.
IndyCars need better side-impact safety
Bourdais said that along with the all-new aerokit, he’s expecting to see better side-impact safety measures applied to the 2018 version of Dallara’s IR12 IndyCar
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s going to be implemented next year with the side-protection which will hopefully prevent the collapsing in side-impacts and the driver sustaining injuries like I did in the crash.
“The car did a really good job head-on. I didn’t have any injuries to my feet or anything like that. But if we could avoid pelvis and fractures like that, it would be great.
“But I don’t think a lot of people can say they’ve survived a head-on crash at 227mph. I was still full throttle when I hit the wall, so it’s a pretty good testament.”
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
O’Ward, Rossi impressed by McLaren’s “massive step forward”
Top 10: F1 feeder series kings who were overlooked the following year
Bourdais added to Ganassi Cadillac roster for WEC Qatar
Dale Coyne picks the Top 10 drivers in his giant-slaying team
Dale Coyne Racing tabs Jack Harvey for GP of Long Beach
Katherine Legge lands Indy 500 ride with Dale Coyne Racing
Bourdais on the mental and physical fightback after a 118G shunt
New compound to thwart Porsche’s inspired Long Beach ‘no tires’ call
Surging Chase Briscoe says a win "is right around the corner"
How MotoGP brakes work: Secrets of stopping a 220mph bike
Hyundai enacts contingency plan after WRC Kenya fuel issue
The apprenticeship that will aid Ilott's IndyCar to WEC switch at Jota
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
Ranking the top 10 IndyCar drivers of 2021
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments