It is a mystery that is as confusing as the Bermuda Triangle and the Loch Ness Monster put together. Even experts have no clue what to believe. Fact is fiction and fiction is fact when it comes to who will be driving for Dale Coyne Racing.
A team whose driver history includes the established such as Paul Tracy, Justin Wilson, Bruno Junqueira and Cristiano da Matta, also includes some of the least talented drivers in American Open-Wheel history such as Charlie Nearburg, Hiro Matsushita, Milka Duno, Takuya Kurosawa and the list could go on and on and on.
My point is Dale Coyne Racing does not always take the cream of the crop of what is available. If it was me (it isn't and I know that), I would've put Ryan Briscoe in the seat a minutes after James Jakes signed with Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing.
We have heard the rumors of Narain Karthikeyan coming to IndyCar and Ana Beatriz being interested in doing ovals and Brazil, which has created a picture of Dale Coyne hiring both to split the second entry. That is the most likely option and it would not shock me if that happened. But it is never easy to predict what Dale Coyne will do.
Look at the last two rookies Dale Coyne brought into the series: Mario Moraes and James Jakes.
When I first heard Moraes was hired for the unified 2008 season, all I thought of was "where did Coyne find this ride buyer?" The answer: In 2007, Moraes was running British Formula Three against the likes of Maro Engel (current V8 Supercar driver), Sam Bird (current Mercedes development driver), Esteban Guerrieri (Indy Lights 2011-12) and Max Chilton (making his Formula One debut in 2013). Moraes finished 14th in the championship scoring 43 points (3 less than Guerrieri and 43 more than Chilton).
Though scoring 3 top tens in 2008, Moraes left for KV Racing where he showed promised (three consecutive top fives, including a podium in 2009) but was always an accident waiting to happened. He has not been in an IndyCar race since 2010.
I had heard of James Jakes before thanks to him racing in GP2 and he was actually under contract with Scuderia Coloni in GP2 Asia when he came to IndyCar in 2011. He was fifth in the 2007 Formula 3 Euro Series behind some recent Formula One drivers (Romain Grosjean, Sébastien Buemi, Nico Hülkenberg and Kamui Kobayashi) and managed to get one win against that crowd. Unlike some of the drivers mentioned above, Jakes proved he was not only competent but showed flashes of brilliancy in IndyCar.
He did not light the world on fire in his rookie season and actually did not qualify for Indianapolis but he wasn't a moving a chicane and his shining moments were at Baltimore where he started 11th and Motegi where he started 8th. In 2012, he continued to improved and scored a top ten at Texas and a top ten at Toronto. Not to forget mentioning he ran 200 laps at Indianapolis and was the second highest finishing rookie in 15th, behind only Rubens Barrichello.
So who will Coyne hire?
What I like to do is take the bottom half of a European feeder series standings from the year before, close my eyes and put my finger down on a name. Who is to say Venezuelan Rodalfo González won't end up joining his fellow countrymen EJ Viso on the grid for St. Pete? Or maybe the Czech Josef Král gets a shot? He has hired Czechs before (see: Jaroslav Janiš).
The Beatles sang "Tomorrow Never Knows." When it comes to Dale Coyne Racing hiring drivers, that is their anthem.
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