Dale Coyne Racing has signed a contract with the French former Method 1 driver Romain Grosjean for a quick return to racing in 2025.
World in Sport’s Ayla Vaughan explores the weather of Grosjean’s new contract and evaluates his previous performances in IndyCar.
Particulars of the brand new contract
Dale Coyne Racing introduced on Friday, February 13, that Romain Grosjean will return to IndyCar in 2026 with the staff he began at. Grosjean will drive within the No. 18 Honda alongside rookie and the 2025 INDY NXT champion Dennis Hauger.
The Frenchman will hope to beat his Norwegian team-mate since he has extra expertise driving on the tracks on the race calendar. Moreover, Grosjean might be keen to begin this new chapter of his profession by racing full-time as soon as once more, after sitting on the sidelines final 12 months as Prema Racing’s reserve driver.
The 39-year-old driver responded to this announcement on social media with a cheeky reply saying “he by no means left” displaying his eager angle to compete as quickly as potential. He’ll convey alongside his many followers to observe the game as soon as once more, cheering for the Frenchman to point out his expertise to the world. It’s at the moment unknown how lengthy his contract is, however Grosjean hopes to proceed racing for so long as potential and to finish his profession on a excessive.
Dale Coyne, staff proprietor, mentioned to IndyCar:
“Pairing an distinctive rookie in Dennis with a confirmed veteran like Romain provides us a robust aggressive basis.
“Bringing again key items of our historical past whereas constructing new international partnerships positions us effectively for 2026.”
His earlier achievements in IndyCar
After leaving F1 with a fiery crash in Bahrain in 2020, Grosjean has been competing in IndyCar ever since. He signed with Dale Coyne Racing in 2021 and amazed viewers and commentators alike together with his adaptability and rookie success. He completed on the rostrum 3 times that 12 months and even earned pole place on the IMS Highway Course, displaying his power as a racing driver and his capacity to carry out below strain.
Additionally, the Frenchman’s qualifying was nice, typically moving into the ultimate phases to battle for pole. He ended the season with 272 factors, making him fifteenth within the driver’s standings, a formidable feat for the ‘Phoenix’.
Following this, he then moved to Andretti World for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the place he drove alongside Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Devlin DeFrancesco. His time on this powerhouse staff began out effectively, with a podium end at Lengthy Seashore and nearly a win. Grosjean struggled a bit extra in 2022 attributable to unhealthy luck and on-track contact with a number of drivers.
The following 12 months was considerably higher, as he scored two podiums for the staff, however he didn’t make a significant enchancment or impress the staff. In each seasons, the Frenchman completed thirteenth within the drivers’ standings, which finally led the staff to signal one other driver for 2024.
Lastly, he drove for Juncos Hollinger Racing in 2024 alongside the three drivers Agustín Canapino, Nolan Siegel, and Conor Daly. This was a blow to the 39-year-old driver, who had moved from one of many large groups to one of many smallest, with much less IndyCar data and expertise.
Sadly, his unhealthy luck and poor efficiency continued, with solely six top-ten finishes that 12 months in 18 races. He finally left the staff, seeing no future for himself there.
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