Sebastien Bourdais has expressed dissatisfaction over his lack of preparation time for the start of the new IndyCar season, which gets officially underway this weekend around the bumpy St. Petersburg street course.
The four-time ChampCar champion was only confirmed at KVSH Racing at the end of February, leaving little time for the Frenchman to complete any serious preparations ahead of the new season.
Despite being confirmed at the last minute, Bourdais did manage to partake in the Phoenix pre-season test, completing 262 laps in total.
"We've had a long off season, so it will be good to be back racing,” explained Bourdais, who secured victory at Detroit and Milwaukee last season.
“We only tested once at Phoenix and once at Sebring a week ago. Now it is go time and I wish we could have done more.
“We also lost a lot of good guys, but thankfully my race engineer stayed with me and we should be able to hit the ground running, leaning on the good base setups we found last year.”
Last season Bourdais finished sixth at St. Petersburg, a personal best around the tricky Florida street course.
Despite his French nationality, Bourdais lives in St. Petersburg and therefore regards the event as his home race. This therefore gives the former Formula 1 racer an invigorated feeling throughout the race weekend.
"I live in St. Petersburg, so it is my home race and it is an honour to represent the city during race weekend,” continued Bourdais. “
“Other than a pole in my first race in 2003, I haven't really had the success I would like. I don't feel any additional pressure to do well, but it's nice to be able to sleep in my own bed and have friends and family at the track.”
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