Coyne signs “very impressive” Enerson to race deal

Enerson quit the Indy Lights championship after the Freedom 100 race in May, in order to focus his attention and money on trying to graduate to IndyCar for 2017.

The call-up to Dale Coyne Racing came sooner than Enerson expected, although Coyne admitted to Motorsport.com last week that his #19 car, raced by Luca Filippi in Toronto, could see a revolving cast of drivers over the remaining five rounds.

Now Coyne has confirmed that Enerson will join Conor Daly in his lineup for next week’s race at Mid-Ohio, and that Watkins Glen and Sonoma may also be added to his schedule.

He told Motorsport.com: “RC was very impressive, I’ve got to say. He never put a wheel wrong and was only one-tenth off Conor this morning and two-tenths this afternoon. Very respectable.

“He won the Indy Lights race at Mid-Ohio last year, so he knows his way around the track and he’ll definitely be racing for us next week. But we may put him in for the other road courses, too.

“He wasn’t intimidated by the car, and once he got used to the mass and the size of it, he was very smooth. We just wanted him to put miles on the car and he turned 110 laps without any incidents. So he’s fit, too.”

Coyne said that Enerson’s technical feedback was also decent, given his lack of experience.

“Yeah, yeah, it was respectable,” he said. “To be honest we didn’t want to change a lot, though. Like I said, we were just focusing on getting miles under his belt, but he got on well with the team, and he was just very professional.

“Honestly, we didn’t know what we were getting into, so for a young kid, I thought he did a great job. We're pleased to have him on board.