Dale Coyne Racing announced Friday that it has parted ways with driver Sebastien Bourdais, who raced with the Plainfield, Illinois-based team in parts of four NTT IndyCar Series seasons since his return to North American open-wheel racing in 2011.
"I want to thank Sebastien for having the confidence to come back from his Formula 1 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 release. "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, who won four consecutive Champ Car titles from 2004-2007, competed for Dale Coyne Racing banner in 2011 and 2017 and under Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan banner for the 2018 and 2019 NTT IndyCar Series seasons. In that span, Bourdais won back to back races at the 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 the season opener at St. Petersburg in 2018. Bourdais has been one of the, if not the, quickest Honda in Indianapolis 500 qualifying in each of the past three years.
"I want to thank Dale (Coyne), Jimmy (Vasser) and 'Sulli' (James Sullivan) for giving me this opportunity to continue racing in the NTT IndyCar Series over the past few years," Bourdais, "I look forward to pursuing new opportunities in racing in the years ahead."
Vasser-Sullivan Racing Co-Owners, Jimmy Vasser and James “Sulli” Sullivan, 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.