Esteban Gutierrez will replace injured Sebastien Bourdais aboard the #18 Dale Coyne Racing entry this weekend as he makes his Series debut at the Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader.
“I’m very grateful to join Dale Coyne Racing, a highly competitive team,” Esteban Gutierrez said. “When Dale Coyne called me, I had no doubt that this would be a great opportunity for me to get experience in the Verizon IndyCar Series.”
The Mexican driver added that his aim will be to learn as quickly as possible.
“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. I have very good memories of my successful GP3 and GP2 Series seasons with the Dallara cars. Also I worked very well with them at Haas F1 Team”, Gutierrez commented.
This will be Esteban Gutierrez’s debut in an Indy car
His experience until now includes Formula 1 (2013-2014 at Sauber, test driver at Ferrari in 2015, 2016 at Haas), GP2, GP3.
“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 Team Owner Dale Coyne. “Esteban has a great open-wheel racing background, especially with his time in Formula One and the GP2 Series. I think he’ll do well in an Indy car despite the learning curve and we all look forward to seeing what he’ll do this weekend in Detroit.”
Bourdais suffered multiple fractures to the pelvis and a broken right hip during an incident on the third lap of his qualifying attempt for the 101st Indianapolis 500 on May 20th. Following successful surgery, Bourdais will be out for about three months according to his doctors.
Good choice Dale. All Mexico ?? isvery happy to be part of the @IndyCar series again with such a great driver like @EstebanGtz bravo amigo?? https://t.co/oCmAyew0PG
— Adrian Fernandez (@AdrianF007) June 1, 2017
