Bourdais basking in Coyne's St. Pete spotlight

Twenty four hours after authoring one of the Verizon IndyCar Series' greatest upsets, Sebastien Bourdais was still trying to process the incoming waves of support that have been lavished on the Dale Coyne Racing team.

"Honestly, I don't recall being part of something where it's been this popular," he told RACER from his St. Petersburg home not far from where the victory took place. "The way people have responded to this and being clearly happy for us has been incredible. We certainly have the sympathy factor!"

After relentless efforts to convince his former engineer Craig Hampson to move from Andretti Autosport's powerhouse program to the comparatively tiny Dale Coyne operation were successful, the seeds of potential were planted.  And with the follow-up acquisition of Olivier Boisson, Bourdais' engineer from the newly defunct KV team, the final piece of the puzzle was secured.

The No. 18 DCR Honda entry stood out as a dark horse contender leading into St. Pete, but few would have predicted Bourdais, Coyne, Hampson and Boisson would be spraying champagne with the rest of the mechanics and crew members that toppled IndyCar's most heralded teams.

In the well-known story, Bourdais and Hampson combined to blitz the former Champ Car series (pictured leading at Long Beach in 2006), winning four consecutive championships before the Frenchman left to try his hand in Formula 1. Upon his return to America, the two spent a brief period together in 2012 at Dragon Racing, but it took Bourdais' move from KV Racing to lead a reinvigorated Coyne program to truly pique Hampson's interest.

If Hampson held any reservations about continuing their working relationship in a more modest team setting, it revolved around maintaining the legacy they'd created in Champ Car. Based on the performance they delivered on Sunday, that legacy is perfectly intact.

"Craig only wants to win and get the job done right," Bourdais said. "I told him we're never going to be like the big teams, but when I was with KV, I could see what a small team could achieve with the right people, and that's what Dale provides. He makes a very stable ground for the organization to grow, asks people to give their best, and we'll also try to have fun. I'd say we had a lot of fun yesterday..."

To hear Bourdais routinely use the word "fun" while discussing motor racing is a new experience, but he isn't the only one within the Coyne camp to embrace everything it represents. Coyne and Hampson have also bought into the idea that beating Team Penskes and Chip Ganassi Racing will only become possible if DCR enjoys its role as IndyCar's biggest little thorn.

"We're just trying to have fun," Bourdais said of the happy new mantra. "And we're also overachieve in any way. That's how I sold it to Craig. It's a fine balancing act. Obviously with the right people at the right place and just enough money to make it through, you can still do some pretty cool things in IndyCar."