Esteban Gutierrez Confirmed at Dale Coyne Racing for Detroit

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer

Dale Coyne Racing has announced that Esteban Gutierrez will pilot the No. 18 and making his Verizon IndyCar Series debut for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in place of the injured Sebastien Bourdais, who was injured in a qualifying accident for the Indianapolis 500.

The 25-year old Mexican drove in Formula One in 2013 and ’14 for Sauber, with a best finish of seventh in the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix. He spent 2015 as the reserve driver for Ferrari, before getting the call from U.S.-based Haas F1 team last year. His best result in 21 races was 11th place on four occasions. Gutierrez has been driving this season for the Techeetah team in Formula E.

“I’m excited about my debut races at the Detroit Grand Prix and I cannot wait to start working with the team, engineers and Honda, as well as driving a Dallara car again,” said Gutierrez via a team release.

“I have very good memories of my successful GP3 and GP2 Series seasons with the Dallara cars and I worked very well with them at Haas F1 Team. I will do my best for Dale Coyne Racing, Honda and all the Mexican fans.”

Gutierrez will have Bourdais’s normal engineering staff of Olivier Boisson and Craig Hampson working with him and given their past exploits with the four-time Champ Car champion, Gutierrez will have a solid foundation heading into the weekend.

“We’re going to miss having Sebastien in the #18 car, but we’re very happy with our choice of a replacement for him this weekend,” said Dale Coyne.