2016 Verizon IndyCar Team-By-Team Preview: KV Racing

KV Racing had its best season in 2015, scoring two victories while Sébastien Bourdais finished tenth in the championship for the second consecutive season. Bourdais had a competitive season but rookie Stefano Coletti struggled and scored only one top ten and one fastest lap. Bourdais will return for his third season at KV but for the first time in the Frenchman's career, he will be flying solo as KV Racing will be taking a page out of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing playbook and become a single-car team.

2015 KV Racing Review
Wins: 2 (Belle Isle 2, Milwaukee).
Poles: 0
Best Start: 3rd (Mid-Ohio).
Final Championship Positions: 10th (Sébastien Bourdais), 19th (Stefano Coletti).

2016 Driver:

Sébastien Bourdais
The four-time champion had arguably his best season since he returned to IndyCar full-time in 2013. Bourdais won the second race at Belle Isle after needing to conserve fuel in the closing laps and surviving dry to wet to dry conditions. At Milwaukee, he dominated the second-half of the race, leading 118 of 250 laps. After eight top tens in the first thirteen races, Bourdais was sixth in the championship and appeared to have an outside chance at the title but in the final three races his best finish was 17th and he fell to tenth in the final championship standings.

Numbers to Remember: 
8.8- Average podiums per season for Bourdais in his first five seasons.

2.33- Average podiums per season for Bourdais in the last three seasons.

1- Bourdais has only won one race after starting outside the top ten. That was last year at Milwaukee when he started 11th. Bourdais has 34 career victories.

Predictions/Goals:
Bourdais is one of the most talented drivers on the grid and he has always been considered a sleeper for the championship. Every Chevrolet team won in 2015 and I think Bourdais can get one victory in 2016 but I don't think he will be able to put together a championship caliber season. Two or three podiums aren't enough to win a title but Bourdais will get 8-10 top tens and find himself in the top ten of the championship.

The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series seasons commences with Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 13th. ABC's coverage of the race will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET.