LONDON, July 11 - Triple ChampCar champion Sebastien Bourdais returned to the Formula One cockpit with Toro Rosso on Wednesday for a third test that could lead to a race seat next season.

The Frenchman, who last tested in May for the team co-owned by Red Bull and Austrian Gerhard Berger, completed 53 laps of the wet Spa circuit in Belgium and set the eighth fastest time of 11 drivers on track.

He lost an hour's running at the end of the day when the Ferrari-powered car stopped on the track with a mechanical problem.

The 28-year-old said in May that the Spa test would be the final evaluation by the team, whose drivers are Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and American Scott Speed.

Managed by Nicolas Todt, son of Ferrari team boss Jean, Bourdais has made no secret of his desire to switch to Formula One from the U.S. series.

Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa was fastest on Wednesday, ahead of McLaren's double world champion Fernando Alonso.