In the 21 year history of the Surfers Paradise street race, Sebastien Bourdais is the only person to win the event on more than one occasion. This year, he’ll be aiming for a three-peat, and his chances of achieving that are strong.
Bourdais, a former Champ Car and Formula One driver, will compete in this October’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 with TeamVodafone – the benchmark team in the V8 Supercars Championship.
It has not yet been confirmed if Bourdais will partner championship leader Jamie Whincup
or Craig Lowndes. The team’s other Gold Coast driver is multiple world touring car champion Andy Priaulx.
Bourdais took victory on the Gold Coast street track in 2005 and in 2007, and after driving with Jonathon Webb in last year’s Surfers Paradise international, he says he is looking forward to returning.
“It obviously is a privilege to drive for the best team in V8 Supercars, and I am very honoured they picked me amongst all the great drivers who will enter this year’s Gold Coast 600,” said Bourdais.
“When I feel that people want me to be a part of a challenge, I rarely say no. Last year I had a good experience, I liked the car, and it’s always a great event to be racing in.
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“Being with such a successful team means that you have live up to their expectations, and I am sure they just want to be at the top. So, I will do my very best to deliver what they expect from me.”
Bourdais made no secret of the fact that TeamVodafone’s team manager Adrian Burgess was one of the primary reasons for his return with the Triple Eight Race Engineering outfit this year.
“I met Adrian last year (at DJR) and we quickly understood each other,” said Bourdais.
“He is a great person to be around and when he told me he was going to join TeamVodafone, he asked me to wait for him to get back to me before committing to anything for Surfers. I did do that and here I am.”
Burgess was more than happy to have Bourdais commit to his operation for this year.
“He did everything that was asked of him last year and was a good guy to get along with,” said Burgess.
“He is solid in the car and gets on with the business.
“I think we have a reasonably clear idea of who we will be pairing with who, but things can change and we won’t be making our final decision until we have to.
“I think he would have no problem working with either Craig or Jamie.”
This year’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 will not only include some of the biggest names in world motorsport, but also from the world of entertainment with the event’s ‘Rock and Race’ format to continue with nightly concerts at the Broadwater Parklands entertainment precinct.
The Friday night entertainment at the Broadwater Parklands will include Drapht, Potbelleez, Bag Raiders, Tonite Only and Illy.
Saturday night will include great Australian rock acts the Hoodoo Gurus, Eskimo Joe and Masters Apprentices before legendary Scottish band Simple Minds close the show.
