By alley - Oct 12, 2016, 10:01 AM ET

INDYCAR: Bourdais confirmed at Coyne

Four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais will return to Dale Coyne Racing's IndyCar line-up next year,

as first reported by RACER.com

in September.

Bourdais headed back to North America after his Toro Rosso Formula 1 stint with Dale Coyne's outfit in a partial program in 2011.

The best result of that stint was sixth on four occasions, and the Frenchman has since raced full-time in IndyCar with Dragon Racing and KVSH Racing, taking four victories during his three seasons with the latter.

"Back in 2011, Dale was the one who gave me the opportunity to come back to IndyCar, and I'm looking forward to a very exciting second stint with his team," he said. "Thanks to Dale's leadership and unconditional commitment to the series, we have been able to assemble a great group of guys, including Olivier Boisson, my race engineer for the last three years, as well as my former lead engineer from the Newman/Haas Racing days, Craig Hampson.

"The addition of these two great minds and friends, to Dale Coyne Racing's existing group, will undoubtedly give me a great chance at running up front with a competitive car."

The 37-year-old will sample one of the team's Honda-powered entries for the first time in a Firestone tyre test on the Gateway Motorsports Park oval on Thursday.

Coyne ran Conor Daly in its lead entry in 2016, with its second car driven by Luca Filippi, Gabby Chaves, R.C. Enerson and Pippa Mann.

"Sebastien has been on our radar ever since he left IndyCar to go to Formula 1 in Europe," Dale Coyne said. "We were honored to bring him back to the States to return to his roots in 2011, and even more excited about what our future prospects will be in 2017 and beyond."

Originally on Autosport.com