Sebastien Bourdais to tackle Bathurst
International motorsport star Sebastien Bourdais will return to a V8 Supercar later this season, lining up to contest the Pirtek Enduro Cup with Lee Holdsworth.
The 36-year old Frenchman - who has contested Formula One, is a four-time Champ Car World Series Champion and currently races the Verizon IndyCar Series in North America - will tick the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 off his bucket list, as well as contesting the Wilson Security Sandown 500 and the Castrol Gold Coast 600 with Walkinshaw Racing and Holdsworth in September and October.
Talking to Inside Supercars on FOX SPORTS, which exclusively revealed the news this evening, Bourdais expressed his excitement to return to the category, which he contested as an 'international' co-driver at the Gold Coast event from 2010-12.
Despite limited testing before his three previous outings, Bourdais achieved a top 10 finish in the first year with Jonathon Webb at Dick Johnson Racing, and then two first and second place finishes across '11 and '12 with Jamie Whincup at Triple Eight. He was one of the standout international co-drivers over the years.
"It's great news - I'm really happy about it," Bourdais said of his partnership with Holdsworth.
"Obviously I've been looking forward to coming to Bathurst for a few years after the fun experience with Jamie a few years back in Surfers, so really happy for it to happen now."
Each year Bourdais has compared schedules in the hope of getting to Mount Panorama - and this year he's "pumped" to be on-site and competing.
"I'm really looking forward to getting back in these cars. They are fun, they are challenging, and the series is super competitive, so it's always cool to be in these circumstances...
"Adrian Burgess from Walkinshaw [Racing] is a good friend and we've been in touch for a long time and also the guys at Triple Eight ... this year with Charlie and Lee it's going to happen and I couldn't be any happier."
It will be Bourdais' first time behind the wheel of a Walkinshaw Racing Commodore (and new generation V8 Supercar) and he believes the team has come out fighting this year. He identified his old enduro home, Triple Eight, as the ones to beat.
"I know how tough it is in the championship - I followed the first few events, results and how it's shaking out," he said.
"I've seen the Triple Eight guys are still the benchmark in the championship - there's no doubt about that - but Jamie didn't want me back in the car so I had to find a way," he joked, as Whincup watched on as a panelist.
"You can tell that the guys at HRT are coming on really well and seem to be coming on stronger and stronger.
"The program with me, it's new, but it's always cool to be at the beginning of something so hopefully I can bring my piece to the table and make it great."
Walkinshaw Racing last year enlisted an international co-driver, pairing Oliver Gavin with Nick Percat in the fourth car, and the combinationfinished third at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
The previous year, Mattias Ekstrom and Andy Priaulx steered a Triple Eight Race Engineering wild card entry at the event and came home 10th, proving talented internationals could master the new generation Supercar and Mount Panorama.
