Dale Coyne Racing announced in a press release Thursday that Esteban Guiterrez has been confirmed to race the rest of the IndyCar season. Guiterrez will fill the seat of the injured Sebastien Bourdais. Since Bourdais was injured during qualifying for the Indy 500, three drivers, including Guiterrez, have filled in for him.
James Davison was on hand and available to take Bourdais’s place at the Indy 500, but Guiterrez drove for Dale Coyne at the back-to-back races in Detroit the week after Indy. Apparently, he was favored to get the drive for the rest of the season. His lack of experience and the inability to test kept him out of the car the next week at the Texas Motor Speedway. Tristan Vautier got the call from Dale Coyne for the Texas race. After running strong all night, Vautier got caught up in a wreck that took out eight cars.
With this weekend’s race at Road America getting underway with practice on Friday, Dale Coyne Racing finally let it be known that Guiterrez would be taking over for the rest of the season. Guiterrez has raced at Road America before, though it was a decade ago in a Formula BMW car. Racing here should be a cakewalk for Guiterrez compared to the bumps and walls at Detroit.
At the first race at Detroit, Guiterrez did his best to bring get the car to the finish, he was a little more competitive in the second race. He finished 14th and on the lead lap. Considering the track and that it was only his third day ever in an IndyCar, that’s very respectable. The former Haas Formula One driver should do better this weekend.
You can catch all the action from Road America starting Friday with two practice sessions. Qualifying is on Saturday. Practice and qualifying will be live-streamed with a tape delay of qualifying to air on NBCSN Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET. The race broadcast starts at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 25 on NBCSN.