• Rapid IndyCar rookie continues to showcase palpable potential
• Dale Coyne Racing ace frustrated by ill-fortune at Indianapolis
• Dubai-born Brit now revving up for the biggest race of the year
   

Ed Jones produced a scintillating turn-of-speed in last weekend’s IndyCar Grand Prix, but his chances of adding a third top ten finish to his tally in what has been an impressive Verizon IndyCar Series rookie campaign to-date were undone by misfortune in Indiana.
 
The IndyCar Grand Prix traditionally kick-starts IndyCar’s celebrated ‘Month of May’, and the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course had been a happy hunting-ground for Jones in the past.
 
The talented Dubai, UAE-born ace claimed no fewer than three pole positions there in Indy Lights and reached the top step of the rostrum en route to the drivers’ crown in the fiercely-disputed Mazda Road to Indy feeder series last year. He returned with his sights solidly set on maintaining his progression at the pinnacle of US open-wheel competition.
 
After struggling throughout practice – completing fewer laps than any of his rivals and uncharacteristically bringing up the rear of the timesheets amongst the 22 high-calibre contenders – Jones and Dale Coyne Racing dug deep to engineer a remarkable turnaround in qualifying.
 
Narrowly missing out on advancing to the second part of the session, the 22-year-old Brit lined up 13th on the grid for the 85-lap IndyCar Grand Prix. His challenge, however, was almost immediately compromised when – following a bright start that saw him gain some early ground – he found himself forced to take to the grass to avoid a spinning Tony Kanaan, rejoining the fray all the way down in 20th position.
 
Having grittily battled back up to 13th, a refuelling issue during Jones’ first pit visit caused a further delay and prompted an unscheduled extra stop, demoting him to a lonely 19th place. He would remain there to the chequered flag, as a rare caution-free race afforded him scant opportunity to play catch-up. The former European F3 Open Champion posted the fastest lap at one stage behind the wheel of his 720bhp Dallara-Honda single-seater, ending up third-quickest overall in evidence of what might have been.
 
With no time to rest, Jones and DCR are already hard at work preparing for the 101st edition of the legendary Indianapolis 500 – the culmination of the ‘Month of May’ – with two days of qualifying scheduled for 20/21 May followed by ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ itself a week later on 28 May.
 
“The Indianapolis road course has been a good track for me in the past” reflected the Williams-Harfield Sports Group protégé. “It’s quite a European-style circuit, which I think is one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable there. We went into the weekend believing it would probably be one of our best chances to get a good result so far this year, but in practice we had a few problems that made it really difficult to learn and progress.
 
“We made some big changes heading into qualifying and moved nearer to my team-mate’s set-up. That allowed us to take a big jump and I ended up really close to the ‘Fast 12’, missing out by less than half-a-tenth-of-a-second. It was obviously frustrating not to go through to the next round, but still massive to qualify where we did given where we had been in practice – much better than we had feared.
 
“Unfortunately, it was then a difficult race. At the start we moved up a little bit, but going into Turn Seven, Kanaan spun in front of me and I had to avoid him – I thought he was going to take me out properly! I had to go onto the grass, and that dropped me to the rear of the field.
 
“After that, we were coming through and our pace was pretty good, but then at the first pit-stop we didn't get all the fuel into the car, costing us a lot of time and messing up the whole race as it sent us to the back again. That was a real shame, as we set the third-best lap so we were clearly quick, and I think we would have probably finished inside the top ten if we’d had a clean run.”

• IndyCar rookie tames oval racing challenge under the Arizona lights
• Dubai-based Brit maintains impressive 100 per cent finishing record
• Dale Coyne Racing ace continues to gain experience in the top flight

Ed Jones successfully navigated the various perils and pitfalls of his first oval race in the fiercely-disputed Verizon IndyCar Series at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend, as the talented young Dubai, UAE-based ace took the chequered flag just outside the top ten with Dale Coyne Racing.
 
Ovals are a unique challenge in North American motorsport and call for a completely different mindset to traditional road courses and street circuits, but Jones had already proved his proficiency and his abilities as a quick learner en route to the coveted Indy Lights crown in 2016, including a close second-place finish at Phoenix along the way.
 
The 22-year-old Brit returned to the short Arizona oval buoyed by a productive test there earlier this season – during which he had grasped the opportunity to gain as much experience as possible – albeit anticipating a demanding weekend, with only a single practice session to prepare for qualifying, which took place in cool and windy conditions.
 
With competitors required to punch in a brace of fast laps straight out-of-the-box, the pressure was on but Jones rose to the occasion to secure 16th spot on the starting grid amongst the 21 high-calibre protagonists, outpacing a quintet of more established rivals behind the wheel of his 720bhp Dallara-Honda single-seater – at an average speed of an eye-watering 190.029mph.
 
In the following day’s 250-lap Phoenix Grand Prix held under the Arizona floodlights – the first of six oval outings on the 2017 IndyCar schedule – the former European F3 Open Champion artfully steered clear of an early mêlée that removed a number of cars from the reckoning, before settling into 14th position.
 
Making further progress over the second half of the race by dint of carefully staying out of trouble on a night when several more seasoned adversaries erred, Jones took advantage of rapid pit-stops by his DCR crew to cross the finish line in 11th place, in so doing consolidating his top ten standing in the drivers’ classification at the pinnacle of US open-wheel competition.
 
Next up for the series’ star rookie is the celebrated ‘Month of May’, comprising the IndyCar Grand Prix in two weeks’ time followed by the 101st edition of the legendary Indianapolis 500 a fortnight later.
 
“I felt pretty comfortable at Phoenix, having done well there last year in Indy Lights and following the test a couple of months ago,” revealed Jones, who is managed by Williams-Harfield Sports Group. “It’s probably one of the trickiest ovals, I’d say, just because of its characteristics and we knew it would likely be a tough weekend, but I was looking forward to it.
 
“The car was pretty good in qualifying. The conditions were very different to how they had been in practice, and it was so much cooler that I didn’t feel fully confident on my first lap and had a bit too much understeer, but otherwise it was a decent effort.
 
“I was optimistic about being able to move forward in the race, but it transpired to be quite difficult. I struggled a lot in traffic – running in the pack was definitely the hardest part – but I managed to avoid all the incidents that we could so easily have got caught up in and it was good to finish only just outside the top ten. Being my first oval race and first night race in an IndyCar, there was plenty to learn but I gained a lot of experience, which is important at this stage, and I'm already excited for the next one.”

• Dubai-based Brit impresses again with best qualifying to-date
• Opening lap misfortune scuppers hopes of top ten hat-trick
• Dale Coyne Racing ace looking forward to oval IndyCar bow

Ed Jones found his efforts to score a third consecutive top ten result in his maiden Verizon IndyCar Series campaign undone by ill-fortune in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama, but the reigning Indy Lights Champion remains upbeat – and a firm top ten contender – ahead of the next outing on the schedule this coming weekend.
 
Having shown well in pre-event testing around Barber Motorsports Park’s picturesque 17-turn road course – lapping less than two hundredths-of-a-second adrift of ultra-experienced, championship-leading Dale Coyne Racing team-mate Sébastien Bourdais – Jones headed to the demanding Deep South circuit in optimistic mood.
 
The talented Dubai, UAE-based ace had clinched a brace of pole positions and victory in Alabama en route to the coveted Indy Lights crown in 2016, and – buoyed by having become the first IndyCar rookie to tally two back-to-back top ten finishes straight off the bat since Nigel Mansell in 1993 – he returned with his sights solidly set on completing the hat-trick.
 
Despite struggling for balance during free practice, Jones dug deep to progress through to the ‘Fast 12’ for the first time in qualifying, narrowly pipping Barber lap record-holder Bourdais to 11th spot on the starting grid amongst the 21 high-calibre contenders.
 
The 22-year-old Brit’s race, however, was immediately compromised when a piece of flying debris from a rival’s car struck the front wing of his 720bhp Dallara-Honda single-seater, sending him unexpectedly pit-bound for a replacement at the end of the opening lap. The delay dropped him to the tail of the order – and consigned him to a very long afternoon indeed.
 
Around a circuit at which overtaking is famously difficult, that represented a significant mountain to climb and with overnight rain making for distinctly different track conditions to-boot, Jones was unable to replicate his impressive qualifying form.
 
The former European F3 Open Champion valiantly plugged away to regain 16th position by the chequered flag, and whilst that was far from the result he had been aiming for, it nonetheless preserved his top ten championship standing at the pinnacle of US open-wheel competition.
 
With no time to waste, the 2017 IndyCar season now speeds swiftly on to the 1.022-mile Phoenix Raceway on 29 April. As he prepares to make his first oval appearance in the fiercely-disputed series, Jones is eager to rapidly re-establish his burgeoning momentum.
 
“We had more knowledge going into Barber than at the first two races following the test, but still we expected it to be tough,” reflected the Williams-Harfield Sports Group protégé. “It’s one of the hardest circuits on the calendar both physically and technically; there are plenty of long corners that call for maximum commitment – you really need to have the car underneath you round there.
 
“That said, I had done well at Barber in the past, and my Indy Lights experience gave me the confidence to push consistently towards the limit. It was a difficult first day after a few changes that we made for the afternoon session failed to pay off, but the team and myself came together and worked hard overnight to try to improve the situation, and Saturday went much better.
 
“We made a little bit more of a jump for qualifying and I had a really good car throughout the session; getting through to the ‘Fast 12’ was our target, and it was very satisfying to accomplish it. Unfortunately, it was then a frustrating start to the race. I caught some debris that wasn’t really avoidable, which put us to the back of the field. After that, I didn't quite have the pace so I think we would have struggled even if we were up there from the beginning.
 
“It was a tough day but, again, I learned a lot and I feel we’ll be better for the next one. Phoenix is the first oval of the year, so it will be interesting to see how we get on...”

• IndyCar rookie continues to turn heads at pinnacle of the sport
• Dubai-based Brit tallies second consecutive top ten finish
• 22-year-old DCR ace advances to seventh in championship table

Ed Jones demonstrated last weekend that his stellar Verizon IndyCar Series debut at St. Petersburg had been no flash in the pan, with a charge through the field to finish sixth in Long Beach earning the talented young Dubai, UAE-based ace praise for a ‘phenomenal’ performance.
 
Having impressed onlookers with a top ten finish first time out as the only rookie in the fiercely-disputed, 21-strong IndyCar field, Jones headed to the legendary Grand Prix of Long Beach – one of the most iconic and prestigious races on the 2017 calendar – bidding to build upon that form with Dale Coyne Racing at the absolute pinnacle of US open-wheel competition.
 
A demanding track that rewards experience, the southern California street circuit already held happy memories for Jones, who had won there in his only prior appearance at the beginning of his maiden Indy Lights season two years earlier.
 
The 22-year-old Brit quickly reacclimatised on his return, logging some 54 laps throughout free practice behind the wheel of his 720bhp Dallara-Honda single-seater and proceeding to thread the needle between the unforgiving barriers in qualifying to line up 13th on the grid. That placed him directly behind DCR team-mate and championship leader Sébastien Bourdais – one of seven previous Long Beach winners in the fray – as he missed out on advancing to the second part of the session by less than 17 hundredths-of-a-second in an extremely high-calibre field.
 
When the lights went out at the start of the 85-lap Grand Prix of Long Beach the next day, Jones immediately gained ground to run ninth by dint of keeping his composure and taking advantage of an incident ahead. Settling into the slipstream of Saturday pace-setter Hélio Castroneves, the reigning Indy Lights Champion rose as high as seventh before pitting for the first time and conceding a handful of positions, but he soon battled back up the order – with a superb move on Graham Rahal a particular highlight.
 
Jones subsequently mastered a brace of late full-course caution periods and pulled off more eye-catching overtaking manoeuvres to work his way up to sixth, where he would remain to the chequered flag – right in amongst the series’ very biggest-hitters.
 
His second consecutive top ten result not only helped to consolidate DCR’s finest-ever start to an IndyCar campaign, but also elevated the former European F3 Open Champion to an excellent seventh in the points standings. Jones is now keen to maintain his burgeoning momentum when the IndyCar circus travels to Barber Motorsports Park for the Grand Prix of Alabama on 23 April.
 
“I knew a lot more about what to expect at a race weekend after what I had learned at St. Pete,” reflected the Williams-Harfield Sports Group protégé. “That was such a good experience for me and I was more comfortable in the end than I’d thought I was going to be – I think we took a lot of steps forward.
 
“Long Beach is one of my top two favourite events, with a great atmosphere and awesome circuit so it was good to be back. I struggled a little in practice, but we worked hard overnight to make changes to improve the car and to end up so close to the top 12 in qualifying showed that we had gone in the right direction. It was obviously a bit frustrating to be so near yet miss out, but it left me feeling really confident for the race and it was great to finish inside the top ten again – not to mention another fantastic team result with Seb in second. I was fighting in every stint, which was a lot of fun.
 
“Dale [Coyne] has put a tremendous effort into this team with the drivers, engineers, development and the whole package to take it to another level this year, and the proof is in these first two races – it's clear to see. That makes me really excited moving forward. We made big jumps from St. Pete, and I can't wait to get to Barber to make even more.”
 
That respect and appreciation is clearly mutual, with team owner Coyne quick to pay tribute to his new protégé’s stellar performances so early on in his career at the top of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder.
 
“Ed did a phenomenal job in Long Beach,” he enthused. “You have to watch him during the race. Sébastien couldn’t get around Marco Andretti in the first stint at St. Pete, but Ed got around Andretti in the second stint at St. Pete and he got around Rahal here. He’s passing people on the track and racing really well. I’m very happy with Ed’s progress.”