Sebastien Bourdais has signed on to AJ Foyt Racing for a full time drive for the 2021 IndyCar season. It comes after a year away.
A veteran of IndyCar, Bourdais was initially dropped from his team Dale Coyne Racing in 2019, phased out as the team shifted to the younger line-up of Santino Ferrucci and Alex Palou, whose interview with FormulaRapida.net can be seen here.
After a season in IMSA, however, Bourdais and AJ Foyt Racing have announced his full-time return to the series as he’ll be taking the helm of the #14 car, driven at ovals this year by Tony Kanaan.
The Frenchman signed on to a four-race IndyCar program with AJ Foyt Racing for 2020, which was promptly cut down to a one-race schedule – something that, in its own right, was still in question as the race that he was to contest was postponed until October, that race being the St. Petersburg season opener-turned-finale.
Now, though, it is understood that Bourdais will also take the wheel of the #14 car for the antepenultimate and penultimate races of the 2020 season. The team have also firmed up their plans for him to compete with them in St. Pete. In order to accommodate this, rookie driver of the team, Dalton Kellett, will be moving into the #41 Foyt car for the upcoming races. Charlie Kimball’s full-time 2020 entry remains unchanged.
“This is exciting news for all of us. We waited with anticipation for most of 2020 to put together a deal for 2021,” said Bourdais. “I’m really happy that I’m running the last three races of the year — it is great for us to get an early start on next year. 2020 has been a very strange year so far and I can’t wait to finally get behind the wheel of the AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet No. 14.”
President of AJ Foyt Racing, Larry Foyt, added: “I’m happy to have this deal done and welcome Sebastien to AJ Foyt Racing. The short time we have been able to work together showed a great deal of promise, and it was a shame that his races with us were derailed by the pandemic.
“I’m glad we were able to add some of these races back on the schedule, as it will undoubtedly help us kickstart his full-time campaign for 2021. His resume speaks for itself, and there is no denying he is a great addition to our program.”
