Spain's Alex Palou, a Super Formula race winner and Rookie of the Year, will be coming to America to compete full-time in the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series driving for Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh.

Palou will be vying for Rookie of the Year honors as he takes on the 17-race schedule. The driver from Sant Antoni de Vilamajor is hot off an impressive season in the Japanese Super Formula Series with TCS Nakajima Racing. In addition to finishing as the top rookie, he scored a victory, three pole positions (the most of any competitor that season) and placed third in the Championship. He also drove for Team Goh piloting their McLaren 720S GT3 this past season capturing the pole position during the last round of Super GT series at Twin Ring Motegi by setting a new GT300 class record.

“I’m very excited about coming to America to race Indy cars,” the 22-year-old driver said. “I’m grateful for all that have helped me get to this point of my career and especially Dale Coyne and Mr. Kazumichi Goh for giving me this opportunity.”

The entry will be entered under the name Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh for the 2020 season.

“We’re very pleased to partner with our friend of many years Kazumichi Goh in this collaborative effort for 2020,” team owner Dale Coyne said. “We tested Alex at Mid-Ohio earlier this year, and he impressed everyone. His rise in performance over the past three years shows great promise for the future.”

Team Goh has a storied history in racing. Team Goh won the 1996 Japanese Grand Touring Championship (JGTC) and became one of the prestigious Privateer teams to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2004 with Seiji Ara, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello.

"Alex shows great promise and we all are excited to continue our relationship with Alex and to see him progress his career towards the IndyCar series," team owner Kazumichi Goh said. "It will be an honor to be part of the Indianapolis 500, the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, and we hope to have the same success we achieved at Le Mans 24hr race with our overall win thanks to great team collaboration between Alex and Dale Coyne Racing."

Prior to his season in the highly competitive Super Formula championship, the Spaniard raced in the Japan Formula 3 Championship, finishing third in the year-end standings on the strength of three wins and five pole positions. Before his time in Japan, Palou became the first Spanish racing driver to win a GP3 race when he took the victory at the final round of his debut season in 2015 with Campos Racing.

Palou made the jump from racing karts to cars in 2014 and placed third in the Euroformula Open Championship and second in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship before his move to GP3 where he spent the next two seasons.

The program came together quickly, first after a July test with Palou at Mid-Ohio, and then more recently with the available drive at DCR. The team plans to begin extensive testing in February in preparation for the season opening race at St. Petersburg, Florida on March 15th, 2020.

Dale Coyne Racing will have further details on its complete 2020 program at the beginning of the new year.

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