Sebastien Bourdais Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Enough, Racing Gods. Enough. Dale Coyne has clearly suffered through massive amounts of heartache. During Saturday’s Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, the longtime Verizon IndyCar Series team owner had another night that would make any normal team owner question his involvement in the sport. With Tristan Vautier becoming the driver du jour in the No. 18 GEICO Honda replacing Sebastien Bourdais, the new Frenchman qualified fifth and was running in the upper end of the field. Meanwhile, teammate EdRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Expect the unexpected. This year has seen a massive improvement from Honda as they have won five out of eight races and heading into a newly-reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, the Verizon IndyCar Series had no idea what to expect into Saturday’s Rainguard Water Sealers 600. Well, looking at the practice and qualifying recaps, it was a complete tossup until final practice. In the first practice session, Honda had the top six times as Scott Dixon led Charlie Kimball, Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal,Read More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Continuing the Verizon IndyCar Series’ unpredictable season, Charlie Kimball scored his first career pole position today with a new IndyCar Series’ track record at Texas Motor Speedway. The Ganassi driver’s two lap average speed of 222.556 mph topped Will Power’s previous top mark from 2015, no doubt aided by the repaved and re-profiled track surface of TMS. “It’s pretty fantastic. It feels really, really good actually,” Kimball said of his first pole position. “The car was pretty good straight out of the trailer for practice. IRead More

By INDYCAR Dale Coyne Racing is bringing a familiar face in to drive its No. 18 Honda this week for the Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Tristan Vautier, who has made 11 of his 30 career Verizon IndyCar Series starts with the team, will fill the seat this weekend as fellow Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais continues to mend from injuries sustained in a May 20 crash during qualifying for the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. Vautier will team with rookie Ed Jones in the DCRRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In Friday practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series’ Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit doubleheader weekend, Graham Rahal and Helio Castroneves were all alone at the top of the time sheet as both drivers were fastest in each of the two practice sessions. Not only that, but they were second fastest in the session where they weren’t fastest. In opening practice, Rahal went around the 2.35 mile Belle Isle street circuit with a time of 1 min 15.3328 seconds while Castroneves was justRead More

 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 callRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Ed Jones finally hit the big time. After moving his racing aspirations to the U.S. and racing in Indy Lights for two years, he won the Indy Lights championship in 2016, securing the Mazdaspeed Scholarship and parlayed that into a full time ride in the Verizon IndyCar Series with Dale Coyne Racing. But how has his first season been on the IndyCar side of the fence compared to his expectations? “This is always what I was aiming for eventually soRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Verizon IndyCar Series Rookie Ed Jones has a lot to be proud of in his 2017 season so far. The Brit, born in the United Arab Emirates, finished tenth in his debut race on the streets of St. Petersburg followed by a sixth in Long Beach for Dale Coyne Racing. Heading to the Indianapolis 500, Jones was the only rookie out of the three yet to complete rookie orientation that actually finished the program within the initial time allotted onRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — In eight laps, James Davison was already over 217 mph. The Australian was drafted overnight to replace the injured Sebastien Bourdais after a savage accident left the 2017 St. Petersburg winner on the sideline with multiple pelvic fractures and a fractured right hip. Davison was got back up to speed quickly during Mondays’s post qualifying practice and turned 44 laps within the first 80 minutes of practice. His fastest lap to that point was 223.670 mph, good enough forRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Scott Dixon had two more cars to sweat out after turning in a four lap qualifying average of 232.164 mph for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500. Dixon had qualified on the provisional pole but the two cars that topped him in Saturday’s first round of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 were still to come. Takuma Sato went to the plate and fired off some heart-stopping moments during his ten mile journey around the Indianapolis 500 but hisRead More