Sébastien Bourdais

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1999–2002, 2004, 2007, 2009
Teams	Larbre Compétition, Pescarolo Sport, Peugeot
Best finish	2nd (2007), (2009)
Class wins	0

Sébastien Bourdais
	Bourdais during his ChampCar days
Born	28 February 1979 (age 45)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	French
Active years	2008–2009
Teams	Scuderia Toro Rosso
Entries	27
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	6
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2008 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2009 German Grand Prix
2009 position	19th (2 pts)

Sébastien Olivier Bourdais^[1] (born 28 February 1979 in Le Mans) is a French race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series. He won four championships in a row, from 2004 to 2007.

He drove in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He was unable to repeat his past successes. Bourdais currently drives for Peugeot Sport in the Le Mans Series and for French football club Olympique Lyonnais in the Superleague Formula series.

Early years[change | change source]

Born into a racing family, Bourdais began his racing career at age 10 in kart racing. Bourdais progressed to single-seater racing in 1995, finishing 9th in the Formula Campus Championship. He then spent two years in the French Formula Renault Championship. He finished second in points in 1997. In 1998, he won five races to become Rookie of the Year (6th overall) in French F3. He won the series outright in 1999, with eight wins and three poles.

In 2000, Bourdais joined the Prost Junior Team in the International F3000 Championship. He finished ninth in the series. In 2001, he moved to the DAMS team and took his first win in the series. He changed teams again for 2002, joing Super Nova Racing. Bordais had three victories and seven pole positions. He won the championship by two points.^[2]

Champ Car career[change | change source]

Bourdais moved to Champ Car racing in the United States. He and joined Newman-Haas Racing for the 2003 CART World Series season. At St. Petersburg, Florida, Bourdais became the first rookie since Nigel Mansell to claim pole position for his first race. His first Champ Car victory came at Brands Hatch.

For 2004, Bourdais dominated the Champ Car series. He had seven wins and eight poles in his Lola. His won his first championship. Bourdais won a fourth consecutive Champ Car title in 2007 with victory at Lexmark Indy 300 on October 21.

Formula One career[change | change source]

Toro Rosso[change | change source]

On 16 March 2008 Bourdais competed in his first Formula One Championship race, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. He finished the year in 17th place with four points.

Bourdais tested for the Toro Rosso team during the winter. On 6 February 2009 he was confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver for a second year.^[3] He had two points finishes in at the Australian Grand Prix and the Monaco Grand Prix.

On 16 July 2009, Toro Rosso announced that Bourdais would no longer be driving for the team.^[4] It was reported that Bourdais was thinking about sueing Toro Rosso, claiming that the team breached his contract.^[5] It was then reported that Toro Rosso paid him $2.1 million to avoid legal action.^[6]

24 Hours of Le Mans[change | change source]

Bourdais has frequently raced the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans. He entering for the first time in 1999, at the aged of 20. He drove a Porsche 911 GT2 run by Larbre Competition. He returned in 2000, finishing fourth with Emmanuel Clerico and Olivier Grouillard for the Pescarolo team behind the three dominant Audis.^[2]

His next three appearances did not go so well. In 2001 his car retired after 271 laps. The next year, he finished ninth in the LMP900 class. He missed the 2003 race and returned in 2004, but his car retired after 282 laps.^[2]

Bourdais' next race at Le Mans would come in 2007. He drove a factory-backed Peugeot 908. The car he shared with Stéphane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy finished the race second.^[2] In 2009 he drovr for the Peugeot factory team again. He finished in second place, one lap behind the winning Peugeot. Bourdais was to drive the pole-winning #3 Peugeot in 2010. A suspension failure halted the car before Bourdais could turn a lap in the race^[7]

Superleague Formula[change | change source]

After leaving Formula One, Bourdais signed up to drive the Sevilla FC car in the Superleague Formula series.^[8]^[9] He won on his debut weekend at the 2009 Estoril round in the Super Final.^[10]^[11] Bourdais won again at the next round, winning race 1 of the 2009 Monza round.^[12] He returned for the 2010 season racing for Olympique Lyonnais.^[13]

Sports and stock car racing career[change | change source]

Bourdais made several appearances in other championships. He won the Spa 24 Hours in 2002 in a Larbre Compétition Chrysler Viper GTS-R. He also won his class at the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring in a Panoz Esperante.^[2] In 2005 he also competed in the International Race of Champions, winning his first stock car race at Texas Motor Speedway. In 2009, he set the official lap record at Sebring International Raceway, during the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2010, Bourdais raced in a Level 5 Motorsports prepared Daytona Prototype in Rolex 24 at Daytona, held at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

Motorsports career results[change | change source]

Career summary[change | change source]

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
1995	French Formula Renault Campus	?	?	0	0	?	9th
1996	French Formula Renault	?	?	0	0	?	7th
1997	French Formula Renault	La Filière	18	5	4	172	2nd
1998	French Formula Three	La Filière	22	0	0	98	6th
	British Formula Three	La Filière	1	0	0	0	NC
	Macau Grand Prix	Equipe de France	1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Masters of Formula Three	?	1	0	0	N/A	20th
1999	French Formula Three	La Filière	20	3	8	229	1st
	Le Mans 24 Hours	Larbre Compétition (GTS)	1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Macau Grand Prix	Equipe de France	1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Masters of Formula Three	?	1	0	0	N/A	10th
2000	Formula 3000	Prost Junior Team	10	1	0	9	9th
2000	Le Mans 24 Hours	Pescarolo Sport (LMP 900)	1	0	0	N/A	4th
2001	Formula 3000	DAMS	12	1	1	26	4th
	Le Mans 24 Hours	Pescarolo Sport (LMP 900)	1	0	0	N/A	4th
	FIA Sportscar Championship	Pescarolo Sport (SR1)	2	0	0	0	NC
2002	Formula 3000	Super Nova Racing	12	6	3	56	1st
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Pescarolo Sport (LMP 900)	1	0	0	N/A	10th
	FIA Sportscar Championship	Pescarolo Sport (SR1)	3	1	2	55	4th
2003	CART World Series	Newman/Haas Racing	18	5	3	159	4th
2004	Champ Car World Series	Newman/Haas Racing	14	8	7	369	1st
2004	Le Mans 24 Hours	Pescarolo Sport (LMP1)	1	0	0	N/A	NC
2005	Champ Car World Series	Newman/Haas Racing	13	6	6	348	1st
	International Race of Champions	N/A	4	2	1	46	5th
	IndyCar Series	Newman/Haas Racing	1	0	0	18	28th
	American Le Mans Series	Larbre Compétition (GTS)	1	0	0	0	NC
	Rolex Sports Car Series	Silverstone Racing	1	0	0	6	89th
2006	Champ Car World Series	Newman/Haas Racing	14	6	7	387	1st
2006	Grand-Am Cup GS	?	1	0	0	24	80th
2007	Champ Car World Series	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	14	6	8	364	1st
2007	Le Mans 24 Hours	Team Peugeot Total	1	1	0	N/A	2nd
2008	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	18	0	0	4	17th
2009	Le Mans 24 Hours	Team Peugeot Total	1	0	0	N/A	2nd
	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	9	0	0	2	19th
	Superleague Formula	Sevilla FC	6	1	1	—	—
2010	Superleague Formula	Olympique Lyonnais	10	0	1	—	—
2010	Le Mans 24 Hours	Team Peugeot Total	0	1	0	N/A	N/A

Complete International Formula 3000 results[change | change source]

Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap (key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2000	Gauloises Formula	IMO Ret	SIL 10	CAT 8	NÜR 4	MON Ret	MAG 2	A1R 9	HOC DNS	HUN 14	SPA Ret			9th	9
2001	DAMS	INT 3	IMO Ret	CAT 11	A1R Ret	MON 4	NÜR 8	MAG 6	SIL 1	HOC 4	HUN 3	SPA 6	MNZ 9	4th	26
2002	Super Nova Racing	INT 14	IMO 1	CAT 3	A1R Ret	MON 1	NÜR 1	SIL 2	MAG 2	HOC Ret	HUN 3	SPA 2	MNZ Ret	1st	56

American Open-Wheel[change | change source]

Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap (key)

CART/Champ Car results[change | change source]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
2003	Newman/Haas	STP 11	MTY 17	LBH 16	BRH 1*	LAU 1*	MIL 9	LAG 17	POR 14	CLE 1	TOR 4	VAN 3	ROA 2	MDO 5	MTL 19	DEN 2	MIA 17	MXC 2	SRF 17	4th	159
2004	Newman/Haas	LBH 3	MTY 1	MIL 18	POR 1	CLE 1	TOR 1	VAN 5	ROA 3	DEN 1	MTL 15	LAG 8	LVS 1	SRF 2	MXC 1					1st	369^{^}
2005	Newman/Haas	LBH 1	MTY 5	MIL 6	POR 2	CLE 5	TOR 5	EDM 1	SJO 1	DEN 1	MTL 4	LVS 1	SRF 1	MXC 17						1st	348
2006	Newman/Haas	LBH 1	HOU 1	MTY 1	MIL 1	POR 3	CLE 18	TOR 3	EDM 2	SJO 1	DEN 7	MTL 1	ROA 3	SRF 8	MXC 1					1st	387
2007	Newman/Haas/Lanigan	LVS 13	LBH 1	HOU 1	POR 1	CLE 12	MTT 2	TOR 9	EDM 1	SJO 5	ROA 1	ZOL 1	ASN 7	SRF 1	MXC 1					1st	364

^{^} New points system introduced in 2004

IndyCar results[change | change source]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2005	Newman/Haas	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY 12	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	28th	18

Formula One results[change | change source]

Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap (key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	WDC	Points
2008	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2B	Ferrari 056 2.4 L V8	AUS 7*	MAL Ret	BHR 15	ESP Ret	TUR Ret														17th	4
2008	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR3	Ferrari 056 2.4 L V8						MON Ret	CAN 13	FRA 17	GBR 11	GER 12	HUN 18	EUR 10	BEL 7	ITA 18	SIN 12	JPN 10	CHN 13	BRA 14	17th	4
2009	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR4	Ferrari 056 2.4 L V8	AUS 8	MAL 10	CHN 11	BHR 13	ESP Ret	MON 8	TUR 18	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	BRA	ABU		19th	2

^*Did not finish the race but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race

Superleague Formula results[change | change source]

Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap (key)

2009[change | change source]

Year	Team	Operator	1		2		3		4		5		6
2009	Sevilla FC	Reid Motorsport	MAG		ZOL		DON		EST		MOZ		JAR
2009	Sevilla FC	Reid Motorsport							11	2	1	3	2	6

2009 Super Final results[change | change source]

Super Final results in 2009 did not count for points towards the main championship.

Year	Team	Operator	1	2	3	4	5	6
2009	Sevilla FC	Reid Motorsport	MAG	ZOL	DON	EST	MOZ	JAR
2009	Sevilla FC	Reid Motorsport		N/A		1	N/A	2

2010[change | change source]

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12
2010	Olympique Lyonnais	LRS Formula	SIL			ASS			MAG			JAR			NÜR			ZOL			BRH			ADR			POR			ORD			TBA			NAV
2010	Olympique Lyonnais	LRS Formula	15	1	4	17	DN	X	9	15	X	7	18	X	14	17	X

Le Mans 24 Hours results[change | change source]

Year	Team	Car	Team colleague	Team colleague	Final Placing
1999	Larbre Compétition	Porsche 911 GT2	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Pierre de Thoisy	Did Not Finish
2000	Pescarolo Sport	Courage C52	Olivier Grouillard	Emmanuel Clérico	Rank 4
2001	Pescarolo Sport	Courage C60	Jean-Christophe Boullion	Laurent Redon	Rank 13
2002	Pescarolo Sport	Courage C60	Jean-Christophe Boullion	Franck Lagorce	Rank 10
2004	Pescarolo Sport	Courage C60	Emmanuel Collard	Nicolas Minassian	Did Not Finish
2007	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Stéphane Sarrazin	Pedro Lamy	Rank 2
2009	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Stéphane Sarrazin	Franck Montagny	Rank 2
2010	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Simon Pagenaud	Pedro Lamy	Did Not Finish

References[change | change source]

↑ "Sebastien Bourdais". news.bbc.co.uk. 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 "Who's Who: Sebastien Bourdais". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
↑ Beer, Matt (2009-02-06). "Bourdais confirmed at Toro Rosso". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
↑ Elizalde, Pablo (2009-07-16). "Toro Rosso confirms Bourdais' exit". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
↑ "Toro Rosso confirms Bourdais' exit". itv-f1.com. ITV. 2009-07-17. Archived from the original on 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
↑ "Toro Rosso settles with Bourdais". gp.com. 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
↑ "Audi claim victory as Peugeot crumble". Autosport.com. 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
↑ "Bourdais to compete in Superleague". Auto Trader. 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-27.^{[permanent dead link]}
↑ "Bourdais joins Superleague Formula". AOL. 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
↑ "Bourdais wins on Superleague debut". ITV-F1. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
↑ "Superleague: Bourdais wins Estoril super final". Racer. 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
↑ "Bourdais making his mark in Superleague, wins race one at Monza". AutoWeek. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
↑ Bourdais joins Lyon for 2010

Other websites[change | change source]

Official website
Le Site des Fans de Sébastien Bourdais Archived 2009-04-21 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
Racing career

[1] "Sebastien Bourdais". news.bbc.co.uk. 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-03-05.

[bourdaisf1fbio-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 "Who's Who: Sebastien Bourdais". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-11.

[3] Beer, Matt (2009-02-06). "Bourdais confirmed at Toro Rosso". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-02-06.

[4] Elizalde, Pablo (2009-07-16). "Toro Rosso confirms Bourdais' exit". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-07-16.

[5] "Toro Rosso confirms Bourdais' exit". itv-f1.com. ITV. 2009-07-17. Archived from the original on 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2009-07-17.

[6] "Toro Rosso settles with Bourdais". gp.com. 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2009-08-07.

[Audi_claim_victory_as_Peugeot_crumble-7] "Audi claim victory as Peugeot crumble". Autosport.com. 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-06-13.

[Bourdais_to_compete_in_Superleague-8] "Bourdais to compete in Superleague". Auto Trader. 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-27.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Bourdais_joins_Superleague_Formula-9] "Bourdais joins Superleague Formula". AOL. 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2009-11-26.

[Bourdais_wins_on_Superleague_debut-10] "Bourdais wins on Superleague debut". ITV-F1. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2009-11-26.

[Superleague:_Bourdais_wins_Estoril_super_final-11] "Superleague: Bourdais wins Estoril super final". Racer. 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-26.

[Bourdais_making_his_mark_in_Superleague,_wins_race_one_at_Monza-12] "Bourdais making his mark in Superleague, wins race one at Monza". AutoWeek. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-11-26.

[13] Bourdais joins Lyon for 2010

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