Dale Coyne Racing has announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Rick Ware Racing for a full-time entry in the 2021 IndyCar season.
The two teams partnered for the first time last year for an Indy 500 run, and this new deal also includes the fielding of a second car for this year’s 105th running of the great race.
The #51 will be the second DCR entry in the team’s upcoming 38th season in the sport, alongside Ed Jones in the sister #18 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan entry.
“We were introduced to Rick Ware at last year’s Indy 500 where he ran James Davison in our third entry,” reported Dale Coyne.
“It was interesting to see how similar his efforts in NASCAR Cup and IMSA were to ours. We have talked ever since that event and we are excited to welcome Rick Ware Racing into our family at DCR.”
Rick Ware Racing hinted last week that they would be running a full-time entry in the series this year, and now we know the form that move will take.
The team has a lot of racing experience in other series, and brands itself as “The Biggest Little Team in Motorsports” owing to its ability to fight with the larger teams across all the series in which it competes.
“I met Dale [Coyne] last year through our Indy efforts with David Byrd and struck up a friendship with him and his team,” said Rick Ware.
“I have thought a long time about expanding into IndyCar from our efforts in NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and IMSA, so this collaboration was an easy and logical step.
“We look forward to a competitive 2021 and beyond together.”
A driver for the new partnership is due to be announced next week, and rumors continue to point towards long-time F1 driver Romain Grosjean stepping over to the American open wheel scene.
