Bruno Junqueira bounced back from stalling on the grid at Surfers Paradise to secure a third consecutive podium finish in the penultimate round of the Champ Car World Series.
The Dale Coyne Racing ace had qualified in a solid seventh place on the grid but suffered a scare prior to the race when his team was forced to complete an engine change due to an oil leak.
However, the good luck in the problem being found then deserted him when the lights changed as he was left sitting on the grid as the rest of the field blasted off to turn one - dropping the Brazilian half a lap down and leaving him 17th and last.
"Two hours before the race my mechanics told me that the engine was leaking oil and we had to put in a new one," he said. "I was very lucky on the start when I stalled the car that nobody hit me."
Yellow flag periods allowed Junquiera and Paul Tracy, who had spun at the first corner, to get back onto the tail of the field, with the duo then adopting a different strategy - along with Robert Doornbos - that left them two-stopping while the rest of the field came in three times.
Having jumped Doornbos during the second stop, it left Junqueira in fourth behind Tracy heading towards the final lap - when Tracy was suddenly forced to pit after running dry.
It gave Junqueira a third podium finish in a row and means he now lies seventh in the championship standings with just the Mexico City finale left to run.
"I had no idea that Tracy was going to stop when he did," he said. "I thought I was going to have to pass him on the last lap to get third place away from him. To podium for a third straight race is a great thing for Dale Coyne Racing.
"My team did another fantastic job today, especially the pit stops. I'm especially proud of the fact that I didn't have to use any of my push-to-pass today."
