With little over a month to go until the green flag drops in the streets of St. Petersburg to kick start the 2018 IndyCar season, there is only one full-time seat left and the questions remains: who will it go to?
The Dale Coyne Racing number 19 car alongside series veteran Sebastien Bourdais has been linked to a number of candidates throughout the winter, but Sebring testing may have shed some light on who will take over Ed Jones’ vacated spot.
Canadian Zachary Claman Demelo seems to be the big favorite. The 19-year-old driver has two seasons of IndyLights under his belt, including a win at Road America last year, and made his IndyCar debut in 2017 at Sonoma with Rahal Letterman Racing. Of the two testing days for Coyne (24 Wednesday and 25 Thursday), he was in action for the squad on both.
On Thursday, however, another exciting candidate got his first taste of IndyCar machinery and may have thrown his hat in the ring. Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of former F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, took over for Sebastien Bourdais on the number 18 as the Frenchman was busy qualifying for the Rolex 24 in Daytona.
According to reports, veteran Jack Hawksworth is also in the running for the seat. There’s also the possibility that some, or even all, of these names could get some seat time throughout the season as the team has traditionally used a rotating roster for their second car.
“They’ve taken to the car well, so that’s what you want. Is the car intimidating to them or not? And it’s not. So that’s a good thing”, said team boss Dale Coyne.
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