Sebastien Bourdais To Return At Gateway
PLAINFIELD, Ill. — Less than 14 weeks after being sidelined from injuries suffered during a violent crash May 20 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sebastien Bourdais will return to the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Indy car this weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park.
Bourdais, who suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and right hip in the incident, made an incredible recovery from his injuries and is returning sooner than anticipated to drive in the final three races of the season.
“You have no idea how excited I am to be getting back in the car this weekend and for the remainder of the season,” expressed Bourdais, who won the season opening race in his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this year. “It’s been a long 14 weeks and I’ve worked very hard to get to this point. Following the crash, I had one goal in mind and that was to be back for Sonoma, and here I am getting back in the car with three races to go. It’s a bit unbelievable but I can’t wait to try out that new surface at Gateway this weekend.”
With Bourdais’ return to the cockpit, it means that rookie Esteban Gutierrez will be stepping aside to allow the Frenchman to get back in the car, as planned.
“It’s been a very interesting few months for me getting to race in the Verizon IndyCar Series on the street circuits, road courses and especially ovals,” shared Gutierrez. “I want to thank the team and Dale Coyne for giving me this opportunity to gain this experience in view of a full-time program in the Verizon IndyCar Series next year. My goal was to learn as much as possible in order to be ready for 2018 where a new car will be introduced. This experience with the team will pay dividends next season.”
“It’s great to have Sebastien back, but I want to thank Esteban for the amazing job he did filling in for him these last few months,” said team owner Dale Coyne. “It wasn’t easy for him coming in and having never driven an Indy car, but he did a fantastic job especially on the ovals. For someone that had never driven on an oval track before Iowa in July, he impressed a lot of people including myself. Hopefully we get to work with him again in the future.”
Source :speedsport.com
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