Sebastien Bourdais gets Walkinshaw V8 Supercars seat for enduros
IndyCar driver Sebastien Bourdais will return to Australia later this year to contest the V8 Supercars endurance races with the Holden Walkinshaw Racing outfit
The ex-Toro Rosso Formula 1 pilot will partner Lee Holdsworth in September's Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 a month later.
Having won in Surfers Paradise during his run of four Champ Car titles, Bourdais returned to the street circuit between 2010 and '12 for V8 Supercars' events with mandatory international co-drivers.
He won a race alongside Jamie Whincup in both 2011 and '12, when current Walkinshaw chief Adrian Burgess was at the helm of Triple Eight, but will make his Sandown and Bathurst debuts.
"After the great successes I enjoyed with Holden and Adrian in 2011 and 2012, it is great to come back to V8 Supercars," Bourdais said.
"Thanks to [licence owner] Charlie Schwerkolt and Walkinshaw Racing, I will check off my 'bucket list' races I have been wanting to compete in for a while.
"I am really excited and looking forward to discovering Sandown and Bathurst, and to return to Surfers in Lee's car.
"I met him a few years back, he is a great guy, a terrific driver and I wish him and the team all the best for the season until I get the chance to share his car."
In his first season with Walkinshaw Racing after two years in an Erebus Motorsport Mercedes, Holdsworth is currently 18th in the V8 Supercars standings.
Bourdais is the third international confirmed for the 2015 endurance races.
Brit Oliver Gavin, who finished third at Bathurst last year for Walkinshaw with Nick Percat, has followed Percat to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, while former Audi LMP1 and DTM driver Alex Premat will again partner Volvo's Scott McLaughlin.
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