Dale Coyne Racing has announced that Tristan Vautier will be behind the wheel of the team’s #51 entry for the upcoming IndyCar race on the streets of Detroit.
The 34-year-old has raced in IndyCar before, but his more recent experience is in sportscar racing.
Vautier has competed in prototypes in both the IMSA and WEC series over the past decade, earning a solitary win in the 2021 12 Hours of Sebring.
His return to IndyCar places him back in an open wheel machine for the first time in seven years and continues Dale Coyne Racing’s trend of bringing in new drivers to the #51 virtually every weekend.
“I’m very happy to be returning to the NTT IndyCar Series and Dale Coyne Racing this weekend,” said Vautier.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in an Indy car but I’m very much looking forward to getting back behind the wheel this weekend and to be discovering the Detroit track.
“Coming back to Dale Coyne Racing is like coming back to family and I want to thank Dale and Falcon Motorsport for giving me this opportunity.”
Vautier will be the fifth different driver to pilot the #51 entry this season, after Colin Braun, Nolan Siegel, Luca Ghiotto, and Katherine Legge have all had turns so far this year.
The French driver last ran in IndyCar in 2017 in a one off race at Texas Motor Speedway, also with Dale Coyne Racing.
Prior to that, he competed a full season with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2013 and a partial season with DCR in 2015, with a fourth place result on the Detroit Belle Isle track his best result.
Vautier will return to Detroit this weekend, racing alongside Jack Harvey in the #18. The arrangement is only for a single race, leaving the driver for the #51 unannounced for the remainder of the season.
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