Gutierrez confirmed at Coyne for remainder of 2017
Esteban Gutierrez will substitute for Sebastien Bourdais at Dale Coyne Racing for the rest of the 2017 IndyCar season, starting with this weekend’s race at Road America.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
The Mexican, who raced in Formula 1 for three years and was also the Ferrari F1 team’s test driver, has successfully extracted himself from his Formula E deal with the Techeetah team, where he has been replaced by Stephane Sarrazin.
"I'm very happy to finally announce my racing program for the rest of the season,” said Gutierrez, who made his IndyCar debut at the start of the month in the Detroit double-header, but missed the last round at Texas Motor Speedway as he awaits his first oval rookie test.
“To represent Mexico in the Verizon IndyCar Series has a huge significance to all the fans who have been following the series through history and I'm very grateful to fill in this position.
“IndyCar has highly competitive teams and drivers and the challenge for me will be great, but I will use all my experience from Formula 1 with Sauber, Haas F1 Team and Ferrari in order to adapt quickly to the car and the tracks. I look forward to continue working with Dale Coyne Racing and Honda, I put my trust in them to achieve great results together.”
After Tristan Vautier raced the #18 DCR car in Texas, Gutierrez tested alongside teammate and fulltime rookie Ed Jones at Road America last week.
When conditions, tires and fuel load were comparable, Gutierrez was less than 0.1sec slower than Jones around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn course he hadn’t competed on for 10 years.
Jones, too, had never lapped Road America in an IndyCar, but raced on it on his way to the Indy Lights title last year.
“We’re very pleased that Esteban can join us for the remainder of the season,” said team owner Dale Coyne. “Esteban did a very good job in Detroit despite having a lot to learn in a short amount of time.
“He fitted in very well with the team and I look forward to our next races with him, starting with Road America this week.”
It’s not yet been established when Gutierrez will take his oval rookie test, but it will likely be at next week’s test at Iowa Speedway, ahead of the July 9 Iowa Corn 300.
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