Santino Ferrucci will return to Dale Coyne Racing this season, and now will pilot the Vasser-Sulivan entry previously occupied by Sebastien Bourdais.
The Connecticut native will be promoted to the No. 18 Sealmaster Honda this year, as IndyCar rookie Alex Palou will take over driving duties in the team’s No. 19 entry.
“I’m extremely honored that Dale, Jimmy [Vasser], and Sulli [James Sullivan] have put their faith in me to carry this program forward,” Ferrucci said. “The SealMaster car has had a lot of success in the past two seasons. I’m eager to move into the No. 18 car and get spring training started.”
Ferrucci made his IndyCar debut for Coyne in 2018. He competed in his first full-time season with the team last year, where he had a trio of fourth-place finishes and also won “Rookie of the Year” honors in his maiden Indy 500.
“We’re very happy to have Santino back with us for the 2020 season,” said Dale Coyne. “He had a very good rookie season and he was absolutely stellar on the ovals. We look forward to him building on that this year.
“I think he surprised a lot of people in 2019 and he has the potential to do even better in his sophomore year as he now moves to the No. 18 car.”
With Ferrucci and Palou both 21 and 22-years-old, respectively, Coyne’s 2020 lineup will feature two of the many young IndyCar stars to have joined the series within the past few years.
The duo will join Arrow McLaren’s Oliver Askew and Pato O’Ward, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, and Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta as 2020 IndyCar rookies or sophomores under the age of 25.
“This new crop of young fast IndyCar racers is no joke, and we’re energized to have Ferrucci leading our charge in the SealMaster machine,” said James Sullivan. “I expect you’ll see some big moments from us in 2020.”