In perhaps the offseason’s most surprising announcement, four-time Champ Car Series champion 37-time NTT IndyCar Series race winner Sebastien Bourdais is out at Dale Coyne Racing at Vasser Sullivan.
“I can confirm that Sebastien is moving out,” team co-owner Jimmy Vasser told NBCSports.com Friday afternoon.
About one hour later came the official announcement. A few hours after that came official word that Bourdais will leave the NTT IndyCar Series entirely to join the Mustang Sampling, LLC to field the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R in the 2020 and 2021 seasons of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The full-season driver lineup includes two-time series champion Joao Barbosa and Bourdais, set in JDC-Miller’s No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing entry.
“I want to thank Sebastien for having the confidence to come back from his Formula One tour and join our team in 2011, and again for his commitment to the team during the past three years,” team owner Dale Coyne said in a statement. “It is not a decision we take lightly, but due to the ever-changing landscape of Indy car racing, we have no choice but to make a change for 2020. We wish Sebastien all the best with his future racing endeavors.”
Bourdais had two stints with Coyne’s NTT IndyCar Series team including 2011 when it was Dale Coyne Racing and again in 2017 when Jimmy Vasser and James “Sulli” Sullivan joined as partners.
“I want to thank Dale, Jimmy and Sulli for giving me this opportunity to continue racing in the NTT IndyCar Series over the past few years,” Bourdais, said. “I look forward to pursuing new opportunities in racing in the years ahead.”
While with the team, Bourdais won back to back races at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, his hometown event, and scored three other podium finishes. He returned from a horrific crash in qualifying for the 2017 Indianapolis 500 to win his second season opener at St. Petersburg in 2018. Bourdais has often been one of the quickest Hondas in Indianapolis 500 qualifying in each of the past three years.
Vasser and Sullivan issued a joint statement that said, “We both want to thank Sebastien for the outstanding job he did driving for our teams KVSH Racing and Dale Coyne Racing Vasser-Sullivan. Looking back Seb has driven 84 races for us. In that time, we captured poles and won a lot of races. Sebastien is a great friend, a great driver, a true champion and a fantastic ambassador for our partners and Indy car racing. We wish him the best of luck in the next phase of his career where we hope there will be an opportunity for us to race together again.”
The team is exploring several options in order to complete its driver lineup for the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series, and an announcement will be made in the near future
There are three talented drivers currently without a ride in the series including popular veteran James Hinchcliffe, Conor Daly and Spencer Pigot. Hinchcliffe is believed to have the inside line on this ride because of his strong connections with Honda.