Sebastien Bourdais has won the St Petersburg IndyCar race after long-time leader Robert Wickens was taken out at a restart with two laps remaining.

Bourdais used strategy to take an unlikely victory in the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg for the second year straight after ending up off-sequence due to an early puncture.

Runner-up was the man who started in the very last position, Graham Rahal, while rookie Wickens was eventually classified 18th having effectively led for most of the race.

Scott Dixon salvaged sixth after a crash and two penalties while Will Power came home 10th after a Lap 1 spin.

Bourdais (#18 DCR w/ Vasser-Sullivan Honda) was 20th under the first Caution, called on Lap 3, and rose to the lead when Wickens (#6 Schmidt Peterson Honda) pitted at the end of Lap 25.

The Frenchman became an outside chance when it was apparent that he could stretch to only two more pit stops for the rest of the 110-lap race.

However, he was several seconds behind in third with 27 laps remaining and the top two of Wickens and Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti Autosport Honda) having made their final pit stops.

That pair had effectively run in those positions since Rossi had easily rounded up another rookie in Jordan King (#20 Ed Carpenter Chevrolet) on Lap 13, but by now it was the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner who began to chip away at Wickens’ advantage.

Rossi was waiting for his moment to strike, and that appeared to come when they caught traffic on Lap 99 but then pinched a brake and ran well deep at Turn 4.

A Caution on Lap 101, when Rene Binder (#32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet) nosed into a barrier, provided a reprieve but Wickens got safely clear at the Lap 107 restart.

Unfortunately for him, Max Chilton (#59 Carlin Chevrolet) similarly found trouble upon the restart and stalled, causing the seventh Caution.

The race restarted with two laps remaining, and this time Rossi got a run on Wickens up the runway main straight.

He attempted to go under brakes at Turn 1 but locked the rears and knocked Wickens into the wall, allowing Bourdais to pounce from third position.

Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) followed him through, with the subsequent yellows meaning that Bourdais could cruise to victory unchallenged.

An unreal turn of events on this restart with 2️⃣ to go! Watch NOW on ABC!📺#FirestoneGP | #INDYCAR

📺 @ABCNetwork
📲 WatchESPN pic.twitter.com/vtsAqduA7D

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) March 11, 2018

Rossi crossed the finish line third while James Hinchcliffe (#5 Schmidt Peterson Honda) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda), who started 18th, rounded out the top five.

Dixon had only managed to qualify ninth and was put to the rear of field as punishment for unloading Takuma Sato on Lap 35.

With the field bottled up after a restart, Dixon slipped on runway paint while trying to pass Hinchcliffe and slid into the Japanese driver, stalling himself.

He also had to serve a later drive-through for pit lane speeding in the #9 Chip Ganassi Honda but still managed to finish sixth.

Josef Newgarden (#1 Chevrolet) was Team Penske’s best in seventh, having started 13th and being delayed by a flat tyre, ahead of Ed Jones (#10 Chip Ganassi Honda) and Marco Andretti (#98 Andretti Herta w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda).

Power made the top 10 having run mid-field for most of the race after surviving an impact with the wall in the #12 Team Penske Chevrolet.

Starting alongside Wickens, he attempted to go with the pole-sitter through the first two corners but spun himself and backed into the concrete, dropping into the pack before pitting for new tyres.

Wickens deserved far more than his 18th position, not taking the chequered flag.

Aside from King’s brief spell in the lead between the first and second Cautions, the Canadian effectively led all the way until being hit on Lap 109.

Bourdais’s win was his first since the corresponding race last year, and therefore also since his huge Indianapolis 500 qualifying crash.

Round 2 of the Verizon IndyCar Series is the Phoenix Grand Prix on April 6-7.

Race results: St Petersburg

Pos	Num	Driver	C/E/T	Race time/Split	Pit stops	Status	Grid pos
1	18	Sebastien Bourdais	D/H/F	2:17:48.4954	4	Running	14
2	15	Graham Rahal	D/H/F	+0.1269	3	Running	24
3	27	Alexander Rossi	D/H/F	+0.7109	3	Running	12
4	5	James Hinchcliffe	D/H/F	+1.5175	3	Running	7
5	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	D/H/F	+1.9907	4	Running	6
6	9	Scott Dixon	D/H/F	+2.2716	6	Running	9
7	1	Josef Newgarden	D/C/F	+3.3842	4	Running	13
8	10	Ed Jones	D/H/F	+4.2992	3	Running	17
9	98	Marco Andretti	D/H/F	+4.8363	3	Running	18
10	12	Will Power	D/C/F	+6.1272	4	Running	2
11	14	Tony Kanaan	D/C/F	+6.5176	3	Running	10
12	30	Takuma Sato	D/H/F	+7.4005	5	Running	5
13	22	Simon Pagenaud	D/C/F	+7.9903	4	Running	11
14	88	Gabby Chaves	D/C/F	+9.2272	4	Running	8
15	21	Spencer Pigot	D/C/F	+1 lap	6	Running	16
16	26	Zach Veach (R)	D/H/F	+1 lap	5	Running	15
17	19	Zachary Claman DeMelo (R)	D/H/F	+1 lap	5	Running	22
18	6	Robert Wickens (R)	D/H/F	+2 laps	3	Contact	1
19	59	Max Chilton	D/C/F	+2 laps	5	Running	20
20	23	Charlie Kimball	D/C/F	+3 laps	6	Running	21
21	20	Jordan King (R)	D/C/F	+3 laps	5	Running	4
22	32	Rene Binder (R)	D/C/F	+10 laps	5	Contact	23
23	60	Jack Harvey (R)	D/H/F	+72 laps	1	Off Course	19
24	4	Matheus Leist (R)	D/C/F	+94 laps	2	Contact	3

(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone

Series points

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Sebastien Bourdais	51
2	Graham Rahal	40
3	Alexander Rossi	36
4	James Hinchcliffe	32
5	Ryan Hunter-Reay	31
6	Scott Dixon	28
7	Josef Newgarden	26
8	Ed Jones	24
9	Marco Andretti	22
10	Will Power	20
11	Tony Kanaan	19
12	Takuma Sato	18
13	Simon Pagenaud	17
14	Gabby Chaves	16
15	Spencer Pigot	15
16	Zach Veach (R)	14
17	Zachary Claman DeMelo (R)	13
18	Robert Wickens (R)	16
19	Max Chilton	11
20	Charlie Kimball	10
21	Jordan King (R)	10
22	Rene Binder (R)	8
23	Jack Harvey (R)	7
24	Matheus Leist (R)	6