{"id":172353,"date":"2026-02-28T02:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/172353\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T02:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:24:08","slug":"2-time-st-pete-grand-prix-winner-sebastien-bourdais-raises-40k-for-johns-hopkins-all-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/172353\/","title":{"rendered":"2-time St. Pete Grand Prix winner S\u00e9bastien Bourdais raises $40K for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ride-along Ride-along with 2-time St. Pete Grand Prix winner <\/a> <\/p>\n

No one knows the streets of St. Petersburg quite like two-time St. Pete Grand Prix winner S\u00e9bastien Bourdais. The former ChampCar, IndyCar, F-1 and current IMSA driver invited FOX 13\u2019s Mark Wilson for a ride around the track in a Mazda MX-5.<\/p>\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – No one knows the streets of St. Petersburg quite like two-time St. Pete Grand Prix<\/a> winner S\u00e9bastien Bourdais. The former ChampCar, IndyCar, F-1 and current IMSA driver invited FOX 13\u2019s Mark Wilson for a ride around the track in a Mazda MX-5 \u2014 much like the car he\u2019ll race Sunday after the IndyCar race.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Wilson, who started the IndyCar race in 2015 in the back seat of the pace car driven by racing legend Mario Andretti, says this was as much fun if not even better.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: St. Petersburg native Ryan Leach reps his hometown and his dad at St. Pete Grand Prix<\/a><\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t believe how well it brakes. My eyes about popped out of my eyeballs in every turn,” Wilson said, after his ride that approached speeds of 140 mph on the straightaway behind Al Lang Stadium on the bayfront. “He\u2019s incredible. Watching the way Sebastian maneuvers these corners, I\u2019m amazed.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a lot of fun to get out on this track,\u00a0especially\u00a0in this car. It\u2019s nimble, it\u2019s quick, it brakes well and handles very well around these tight turns,” Bourdais said.<\/p>\n

The street course is a 1.8 mile layout with 14 turns, a runway for one straightaway and another along the Bayshore where IndyCar drivers reach speeds nearing 180 mph.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Bourdais is also president\u00a0of the nonprofit Kart4Kids, which raises funds for Johns Hopkins All Children\u2019s Hospital with a pro-am kart race each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bourdais raised $40,000 for the charity this year with sponsorship for his MX-5.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s all for fun and the kids, and I\u2019m honored that I am able to race and represent Kart4Kids,”\u00a0Bourdais said.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story was gathered from FOX 13’s Mark Wilson during a ride-along with two-time St. Pete Grand Prix winner S\u00e9bastien Bourdais.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg<\/a>Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ride-along with 2-time St. Pete Grand Prix winner No one knows the streets of St. Petersburg quite like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[48747,47,70139,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":["post-172353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-auto-racing","tag-fl","tag-grand-prix","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}