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IndyCar Mid-Ohio

Coyne team heaps praise on both drivers

Both Conor Daly and IndyCar debutant RC Enerson impressed Dale Coyne Racing over the weekend, Daly for turning around his weekend and leading, Enerson for being on the pace right away.

David Malsher-Lopez

Edited: Aug 1, 2016, 2:40 PM

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R.C. Enerson, Dale Coyne Racing Honda, Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R.C. Enerson, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R.C. Enerson, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R.C. Enerson, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Due to pitting its driver on Laps 10 and 11, DCR went off strategy immediately and it was a tactic that paid off in terms of getting its drivers toward the front. The way the yellows fell, by lap 35, the Coyne cars were running sixth and seventh, despite qualifying 18th and 22nd.

However, Daly fell as low as 13th having flat-spotted a tire which caused a severe vibration, and so he was called in early for his final pitstop. In fact, this was a godsend, as four laps later there was a full course yellow caused by Jack Hawksworth’s shunt, and so Daly was able to stay out front as everyone else pitted. He held the lead for 22 laps, but eventually had to have a splash and dash, but re-emerged in the Top 10 and came home sixth.

Michael Cannon, race engineer for Daly, told Motorsport.com: “We would have needed three or four laps of yellow for Conor to be able to make it to the finish on fuel-save mode. We’d made our theoretical last stop six laps before the fuel window.

“But circumstances forced our hand; we had to do that previous stop – our theoretical last stop – when we did because the flatspot was causing such a bad vibration, Conor was dropping like a rock. So we made a decision to take our lumps and hope for more yellow. It didn’t happen for us.

“But Conor did a great job up front, pulling enough of a gap so that he came out where he did, and another sixth place is still good. Considering how his weekend had gone so far, he really turned things around.

“He had a couple of offs during practice, trying too hard, and needed his confidence built up. This helped, I think.”

Daly has a second place and three sixths so far this season.

‘Remarkable’ Enerson not at fault for dead engine

Cannon went on to praise Daly’s new teammate for the weekend, RC Enerson, who quit Indy Lights in May, and whose only previous IndyCar experience had been a test with Schmidt Peterson Motorsport in March and then a test with Coyne last week.

Of Enerson’s first race weekend in an IndyCar, Cannon commented: “RC was remarkable all weekend. I was just thinking that this may have been the most impressive IndyCar debut that I’ve been involved with.”

Enerson outqualified Daly and was running right behind him just before their second pitstops. However, Enerson lost time in the pits when the engine stopped and took an age to refire.

“That wasn’t his fault,” said team manager Darren Crouser, who also serves as the #19 car’s strategist. “We ran him on too aggressive a strategy, he ran out of fuel as he was coming down pitlane. So the fuel pressure dropped and we couldn’t get the car restarted until after we’d lost a lap.

“Otherwise, he would have easily had a Top 10. Very impressive, very quick all weekend.”

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