Toro Rosso confirms Bourdais, not Sato

Fri, 6 February 2009, 10:00

Toro Rosso has confirmed that Sebastien Bourdais will again race for the Red Bull-owned team in 2009.

Admitting the news had become perhaps F1’s “worst kept secret”, the Faenza based team said in a statement that the 29-year-old completes the Toro Rosso lineup alongside Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi.

“After one year with Toro Rosso, we expect him to profit from the experience he gained last season,” team boss Franz Tost commented.

STR had considered replacing Bourdais with Takuma Sato for 2009, leading the French driver to admit that the pre-season period was “very long and difficult.”

In a separate statement, Japanese Sato’s manager Andrew Gilbert Scott said the 32-year-old had been unable to raise enough sponsorship.

“We have all been working very hard and have been able to attract a significant amount of sponsorship to support the team but unfortunately it was obviously not enough to secure the drive,” he said

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