World Series by Renault team I.S.R. will be welcoming back Sam Bird for the collective tests at Paul Ricard on 8th and 9th of March, thereby renewing its successful partnership with the Briton, who earned them 7 podium finishes in 2012, including wins at Monaco and Silverstone, and only missed out on the Drivers Championship title on the final weekend of the season . Igor Salaquarda, the owner of the Czech team explained: “last year with Sam was another successful season for us and he delivered to the maximum of the car’s capabilities on every track. As such, we consider him to be the benchmark and I have asked him to drive for us on both days, lending his professional expertise for the ongoing development of our car.” “Sam’s focus will be to work hand in hand with our renewed and enhanced engineering team on all aspects of the car’s performance in various configurations. He will also work closely with Sergey Sirotkin, who will be testing in the other car. Sergey, who is confirmed with us for the 2013 season as previously announced, is a very promising talent who has already impressed us, both inside and outside the car, and I am confident that he can only benefit from working with a driver of Sam’s calibre”.