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Wednesday December 13, 6:41 PM Bourdais hopes for F1 future but rules out 2007 Photo: Reuters Click to enlarge LONDON (Reuters) - Triple ChampCar champion Sebastien Bourdais has ruled out a switch to Formula One next year but his hopes for 2008 have been rekindled by a test with the Toro Rosso team starting on Wednesday. The 27-year-old has linked up with fellow Frenchman Nicolas Todt, son of Ferrari team boss Jean and manager of Ferrari's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, to develop his Formula One prospects. Toro Rosso, co-owned by former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger and with Ferrari engines next season, have yet to confirm their drivers for next year. However Bourdais, who has long harboured a desire to race in Formula One, said he will defend his title again in the U.S. series next year. "The first thing I must emphasise is that I will defend my title in ChampCar in 2007 with Newman Haas," he told www.GP2006.com, a Web site run by Todt's NTNZ group, before the test in Jerez. "This test was made possible thanks to Nicolas Todt, with whom I work from now on. I am happy to team up with him and I hope that this test is only the beginning and that it will lead to even more beautiful and greater things. "This test will make it possible to get an idea of the situation and I am hoping that it is the start of something concrete, namely a race drive. "I will do my best during these three days of testing. I will be able to know more what to expect and define my next step once they are over." Bourdais last tested a Formula One car for Arrows in 2002, when he was champion in the now-defunct F3000 junior series. That team offered him a race drive but folded before he could take it. Austrian Berger told Britain's Autosport magazine that he wanted to see how good Bourdais, winner of the U.S. ChampCar series for the past three years, really was. "I would like to give him a chance," he said. "I think he's a guy doing an extremely good job in the States and I would like to see where he is. He did quite well in Europe and he's doing very well in the States, and I'd like to see where his potential is."