The 2014 season wasn’t a season that marked a points finishing high, but it was one that Sebastien Bourdais will remember for years to come. With last year’s success under his belt, no doubt he will be looking for more in 2015.
After failing to reach victory lane for seven years, Seabass made his return to victory lane during the summer when he dominated the Honda Indy Toronto Race No. 1, leading 58 laps in total. No doubt it marks the biggest highlight of Bourdais’ first year with KVSH Racing, but also possibly one of the biggest moments of his career. It also proved that given the right circumstances, KVSH Racing could perform right near the front with the top teams of the series, adding confidence for both Bourdais and the team.
Beyond the victory in Toronto, Bourdais would see other positive moments during the season to give him some confidence heading in 2015. Given the speed the team showed and his ability, it would not be a surprise to see Bourdais possibly pick up two wins on the street courses this coming season. He proved last year that he could get it done with not only scoring the victory in Toronto, but by posting four top-five finishes, along with a ninth, in the final five street courses of the season. His experience of certainly running both Formula 1 and CART have helped him hone those skills and KVSH having a solid team makes the perfect match.
However, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see KVSH Racing be able to perform, evident by their win with Tony Kanaan in the 2013 Indianapolis 500. Their Indianapolis success continued this year with Bourdais, as he performed well in both the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and the Indianapolis 500 with a pair of top-seven finishes. Indianapolis certainly holds the most bragging rights among the tracks in IndyCar – historic reasons – so to be able to do well in both events, it carries a lot of weight. If he was able to win either, certainly it would help increase his noterity with fans in the series, allowing his name to join the likes of Andretti, Kanaan, Power and Hunter-Reay in discussions.
Though outside of the Indianapolis road course, Bourdais could use some improvement on road courses, following a 15th at Barber Motorsports Park, and 11th at Sonoma Raceway last season. The street courses take their own version of driver ability behind the wheel – tight corners, tricky asphalt and sometimes a couple curbs here and there. In contrast, the road courses bring forth more momentum with flowing corners, yet also have a couple tight corners to try and throw the momentum away. If Bourdais can bring himself to carry more momentum to go with his ability to handle lefts and rights, he should be much stronger in 2015.
The biggest issue with KVSH Racing is the team size, in contrast to a team like Andretti Autosport or Team Penske. Less resources and less cars to lean on bring forth the feeling of behind in trying to find the right set-up, or figure out a new package. The only way to fix that is to expand the team, or bring over people from those teams that know the package. If the team is able to grow moving forward, than certainly that’ll help get themselves better aligned with the top organizations. One of the things working in their favor is the partnership with KVAFS Racing, so perhaps strengthening that relationship further would help their efforts for the new season.
