ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — It’s official: Sebastien Bourdais’s successful five-year adventure in American open-wheel racing will come to an end at the conclusion of the 2007 Champ Car campaign.
The 28-year-old Frenchman was confirmed Aug. 10 for a 2008 race seat with the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team, where he will partner young German Sebastian Vettel.
Bourdais tested twice for the STR F-1 team this year, and did a good enough job in a July evaluation at Spa-Francorchamps to impress team bosses Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost.
The native of Le Mans, France, has dreamed about racing F-1 since he was a child. After winning the 2002 FIA Formula 3000 championship, Bourdais actually had a contract to race in F-1 for Arrows, but the team folded before he tested or started a race.
He had an opportunity at that point to join the Renault F-1 team, but only if he agreed to a one-sided management contract with team boss Flavio Briatore. Rather than accepting Briatore’s terms, Sebastien elected to try his luck in America, joining the Newman/Haas Racing Champ Car team.
It turned out to be a fruitful partnership for both sides. Bourdais put his Newman-Haas Lola on pole for his first Champ Car race in February 2003 and won three times as a rookie. He has amassed 29 poles, 28 victories and appears well on the way to a fourth consecutive series title.
Sebastien also found a spiritual home with the team owned by Carl Haas, Paul Newman and Mike Lanigan. He was actually contracted to NHLR for 2008 until Toro Rosso bought the rights.
“I have had the best years of my racing career with Newman/Haas/ Lanigan Racing and the team has always been like a family to me,” stated Bourdais. “I would like to thank Carl, Paul, Mike and the whole team for supporting my decision. We have grown up and elevated ourselves together and I’ll never forget that.
“For sure it’s always tough to give up these kind of situations, but we made our point here,” he added. “It’s great to be satisfied with winning, but for me it felt like it was the right time to move onto another challenge.”
Newman said he and his partners did not want to hinder Bourdais from achieving his dream of racing in F-1. “We’re going to miss him fiercely but moving on is the right thing for him right now,” Newman remarked.
“Working with Sebastien has been great for the team and I wish him similar success in the future,” added Haas. “The team is committed to helping Sebastien become the first Champ Car driver ever to win four championships in a row.”
Bourdais will be moving from the acknowledged top team in the Champ Car series to a Formula One team that has struggled to crack the top eight with drivers Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Berger and Tost hope that a new driver pairing, coupled with technical input from Red Bull Racing, will help Toro Rosso move up the grid. Bourdais downplayed concerns about his age; he will be almost 10 years older than his teammate, who is the youngest driver in F-1 history to score a championship point.
“I wasn’t going to make it with Ferrari or McLaren or any of the top teams, so I was getting close to the end of my window when Toro Rosso called,” he said. “The big factor is not the team, but how competitive next year’s car is.
 “I’m not worried about my age, because I look young and I certainly feel young,” he added. “The key is to make the move before you peak as a driver, and I definitely believe I haven’t peaked yet.
“You can’t be sure if it’s the right thing to do until you do it, but at least I will have done it.”