IndyCar – James Jakes turns to RLL

James Jakes will play his second season in IndyCar after signing a contract with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The 25-year-old Briton already has solid experience in car. After his debut in Formula Renault 2.0, he headed towards F3 before competing in the GP2 Series. After regressing in GP3 within the Manor Racing team in 2010, James Jakes went to build a career on the other side of the Atlantic by joining the Dale Coyne Racing team where he competed for two seasons, with the best results an eighth place achieved last year in Toronto.

The Briton makes a fresh start by joining Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing who will enter two DW12s, Graham Rahal having previously been announced. James Jakes will wear the No. 30 in the colors of sponsor Acorn Stairlifts and hopes to improve his results after two learning seasons culminating in a 22nd place in the Championship. “I want to put myself in a position where I'm going to be able to get the results that I think I'm capable of getting and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is a good place for me. If you look at the results that Bobby and his team have achieved on the track, they consistently have a car that runs at the front. I had already been in negotiations with Bobby since my arrival in the discipline, but we had not been able to put a program in place until now. It will be fantastic for the team to have a full season with two cars to move towards the team's desired goal of being at the top of the grid. »

For his part, Bobby Rahal has confidence in the abilities of his new recruit and believes that the Briton will achieve satisfactory results with his team. “I've seen him be competitive many times and felt throughout that time that he could have success in IndyCar if he was in the right environment. He and Graham communicate well and I think that's important for the team. We are happy to welcome him and we think we will have a good combination of drivers. Having two cars on the team is a natural progression. We recreated a stable last year to really build ourselves up. We have positioned ourselves at Indianapolis to take advantage of everything the single-seater industry has to offer and we have already proven that we can be competitive last year with just one car. But there is no doubt that a two-car team is more efficient and productive in competition. We collect twice as much information and this helps us progress faster. James is undoubtedly an aggressive and competitive driver and I think he and Graham will highlight our performances. »