Indianapolis, IN. After a strong build up with Dale Coyne Racing, seeing James Davison place 4th, 4th and 11th in the practice sessions leading up to the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500, a 27th place finish was the end result for the AE | ReplayXD | Cruz Associates car.
Due to contractual obligations to NISSAN in the Pirelli World Challenge, Davison was forced to have Tristan Vautier qualify his Indycar and start from the back of the grid for the 500 mile race. After just 14 laps Davison had risen from 33rd to 21st. 116 laps into the 200 lap event running inside the top 20, Davison was unsafely released from his pit box causing contact with another 2 cars and injuring 2 mechanics. The incident left the #19 car of Davison with broken steering.
"Today was a very unfortunate situation for the team in the pits." Davison said. "Firstly, I wish the 2 injured mechanics a speedy recovery. It's the last thing any of us want to see. Motorsport is truly a team sport, we win and lose as a team and today a small judgement error cost us dearly. That's the way it goes sometimes."
"I must thank Dale Coyne for his faith in me and and allowing me to further prove myself in the Verizon Indycar Series at the biggest race in the world. The AE | ReplayXD | Cruz Associates car was strong and on course to finish around the top 10 based on who were racing at the time of retirement. As I said, we win and lose as a team. I hope to be back in one of Dale's Indycars again before the season is out."
Davison now moves onto the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix where he will be performing double duty in both the Tudor United Sportscar Series and Pirelli World Challenge Championship.