Bourdais keen to continue with Jones

IndyCar Rookie of the Year Ed Jones has received an important vote of support from his teammate, four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais.

The 2016 Indy Lights champion secured a ride alongside Bourdais at Dale Coyne Racing, in part, with the help of the $1 million advancement prize given by Mazda. With those one-time funds depleted, the Briton has spent most of the summer being concerned about having the funding to keep his name on the No. 19 Honda, but his team owner – and now the notoriously picky Frenchman – have expressed a desire to keep the 22-year-old.

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"I hope he can come back next year and build off of what he started this year, because he's definitely a good kid, and he's got a lot of talent," Bourdais said. "I hope Dale Coyne as an organization can stay together that way, and we just can make it stronger, and he did benefit from it and show what a good driver he is."

Aided by a deep pool of engineering talent provided by Craig Hampson, Michael Cannon, and Olivier Boisson, DCR has experienced a significant rise in competitiveness this season. Building on those achievements with Jones, who sits between veterans Marco Andretti and JR Hildebrand in the championship standings, will be key to their continued growth.

"He's done an absolutely brilliant job on the superspeedways," said Bourdais, who has been vocal when a teammatefalls short of expectations. "He's still figuring out the short ovals. I think he did a good job at Gateway. He had a good race going. It's always a bit of a hit-and-miss game on street and road courses. The weekends go fast, really fast, [but] I think he's done really good."