On Thursday, Dale Coyne Racing announced that Luca Ghiotto would be driving the team’s #51 entry for the race at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend.
Ghiotto has four years of experience in Formula 2, with his most recent full season being 2020 when he drove for Hitech Grand Prix and finished 10th in the championship.
Since then, the Italian driver has spent time racing in the GT World Challenge series and has also been the simulator driver for Nissan’s Formula E program.
The 29-year-old will make his first ever laps behind the wheel of in IndyCar this weekend, and will also return with the team in two weeks for the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“I’m very excited to be making my NTT IndyCar Series debut this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park,” Ghiotto said.
“I’ve spent the majority of my career overseas but was always intrigued and wanting to try IndyCar. It will be my first time driving this car and my first time at this track, so there’s a steep learning curve and challenge ahead of me, but I am very much looking forward to it.”
DCR is seemingly going to go through a good portion of the season by signing drivers for short term deals, and the most recent announcement was a bit of a surprise.
The plan is to run two cars at every one of the 17 races this year, with Nolan Siegel and Jack Harvey taking a bulk of the driving duties.
The team brought in ace IMSA driver Colin Braun for the first event of the season, and now will compete with another debutant for the next two championship rounds.
“We know it won’t be an easy first race for Luca jumping in the car like this with no testing whatsoever,” team owner Dale Coyne said.
“That said, he has plenty of experience in different types of race cars and has proven himself over the years. We look forward to seeing what he can do in the next two races and know that he will bring experience and knowledge to the team.”
Ghiotto will have a tough task ahead of him, as Barber is considered one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar due to its high-speed corners and IndyCar’s lack of power steering.
He will get his first sample of the track on Friday at 2:40 PM central time, and will race alongside his team-mate Harvey in the #18 for Sunday’s main event.
