Elite Company: Sebastien Bourdais in a Class of His Own, for Now

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter

With his win in last Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Sebastien Bourdais has put himself in a unique category in recent Verizon IndyCar Series history.

The win, his 36th all-time which moved him up to sixth on the all-time list ahead of Bobby Unser, makes the Frenchman the only driver to have won each year since 2014. Although the season just started, so there is time for others to catch up.

Bourdais won four straight Champ Car championships from 2004-07. Despite not finding the same title-winning success of just over a decade ago, he continues to be a competitive force to be reckoned with, albeit with lower budget squads than a majority of his competitors.

The Frenchman won once in 2014 (Toronto), twice in 2015 (Detroit and Milwaukee) and once last year (Detroit), all while driving for the recently-defunct KVSH Racing team. With an offseason that saw him reunited with Craig Hampson, the engineer whom he shared his four titles with, along with Dale Coyne Racing, Bourdais keeps his winning streak alive with a win at St. Petersburg.

The other drivers in that have the ability to match that feat are Will Power, Scott Dixon and Juan Pablo Montoya,

Power, who drives for Team Penske, actually has a streak of his own to keep up as he has visited Victory Lane each year since 2008. He won three times in 2014 on his way to a series championship (St. Pete, Detroit, Milwaukee), once in 2015 (IndyCar GP) and four times in 2016 (Detroit, Road America, Toronto and Pocono).

Scott Dixon has long been master of consistency in the series. Having finished third on Sunday, he looks poised to back up last year’s success of two wins, all despite Chip Ganassi Racing switching from Chevrolet to Honda. The four-time series champion leads all active drivers having won every year since 2005.

Juan Pablo Montoya is currently in a part time role at Team Penske this season, but also has a chance to continue that win streak.  With two opportunities in 2017 (at the moment),  Montoya is set to compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the IndyCar GP on the road course and the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. The Colombian is a two-time champion of the 500, having won it in 2000 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing and in 2015 driving for Team Penske.

Young Americans Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden each won twice in 2015 and once in 2016 and can continue their personal streaks if they pull out a win this season.