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IndyCar team owner Dale Coyne admits he is interested in securing the services of ex-Haas Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean for 2021, having named Ed Jones as the squad’s first signing this season.
The Race understands the team is in discussions with Grosjean over signing him for the road and street course races.
Grosjean had pointed towards IndyCar as a potential landing spot after losing his Haas seat last year, but his huge crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix raised uncertainty as to whether he would still want to make the switch Stateside.
He had been linked to the AJ Foyt Enterprises but team boss Larry Foyt announced Dalton Kellett alongside Sebastien Bourdais at the team in December.
In the new year Coyne emerged as the most likely option for Grosjean but The Race understands a deal between the two has not yet been concluded.
Pietro Fittipaldi – who replaced Grosjean in F1 at Haas after the former’s Bahrain crash – has also been linked to the team, as has series veteran Charlie Kimball.
When asked by The Race about the prospect of signing Grosjean, Coyne said: “You all could make a list of 100 drivers and we’ve probably talked to every one of them this winter – employed, unemployed, America, Europe, every country. It’s been kind of amazing.
“Obviously Romain is a good driver, we’d love to have him. [I’m] working on a few other ones as well, so hopefully we get all that buttoned up and make an announcement next week, and then get out testing in February.”
Jones (above), who raced for Coyne back in 2017, was announced on Wednesday as the driver for the #18 Vasser Sullivan-backed entry.
“We’re very happy to have Ed Jones back with us this season. We were sad to see him leave after his first time with us but we’ve kept in touch since,” said Coyne.
“Ed had a great rookie season at DCR in 2017, which included our best finish of third at the Indianapolis 500. Now with DCVS, we hope to continue where we left off with him and look forward to a strong season.”
“I started my IndyCar career with Dale, Jimmy and Sulli have had much success as owners together, and the combination of Coyne, Vasser, Sullivan is a proven team over the last three seasons,” said Jones.
“I’m pumped for the opportunity to drive the #18 SealMaster machine and represent the SealMaster franchisees across the country, this really is the perfect opportunity.”
United Arab Emirates-born Brit Jones won the Indy Lights championship with Carlin in 2016 before scoring a podium at the Indianapolis 500 with Coyne the following year – narrowly missing out on the event’s rookie of the year honours to Fernando Alonso, although he scored the same honour for the championship as a whole at the end of the year.
A 2018 season with Chip Ganassi Racing yielded another two podiums before a switch to Ed Carpenter Racing for the road and street courses and the Indy 500.
For 2020 Jones was supposed to switch to the DTM in a WRT Audi drive, but travel restrictions meant he missed a test in June and his drive then went to Harrison Newey, son of Red Bull designer Adrian.
Dale Coyne’s drivers from last year had already revealed their plans.
Santino Ferrucci has made the switch to the NASCAR Xfinity Series after two years with the squad, while impressive rookie Alex Palou (pictured above) made the most of a switch from Super Formula to score a front-running seat at Ganassi in 2021.
