Photo: Chris Owens
Toby Sowery will make his IndyCar debut in next weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio, driving Dale Coyne Racing’s #51 car.
The 28-year-old Englishman will become the sixth different driver to race the car this season, with previous occupants including Indy Nxt graduate Nolan Siegel (who is now racing for McLaren) and former Formula 2 driver Luca Ghiotto.
“Racing in IndyCar is an exciting challenge for anyone, and I’m extremely fortunate to be given this opportunity by Dale [Coyne],” said Sowery.
“Dale has been fundamental to IndyCar in giving drivers opportunities to prove themselves, and I’m eager for this challenge. It’ll be a difficult step to make having only one day in the car over a year ago, as well as adapting to the hybrid system, but I’m up for it.”
Sowery started his single-seater career a decade ago in MotorSport Vision’s Formula 3 Cup for old F3 cars, and he was champion as a rookie. He then won the 2014-15 MRF Challenge title, came 14th in a part-time British Formula 4 campaign in 2015 and was third in BRDC British F3 the year after.
A second season in that series was not as productive, with Sowery dropping to fourth in the standings and taking two wins compared to the five he claimed the year before, then in 2018 he combined a move to sportscars in International GT Open campaign with single-seater outings in Italian F4 and USF Pro 2000.
He finally reached single-seaters’ second tier in 2019, coming third in Indy Nxt with one win and six other podiums. After a year out he returned to the series in 2021 and claimed three more podiums in a part-time campaign, then entered two rounds last year and took another podium.
So far his primary programme in 2024 has been in IMSA’s LMP2 class with Algarve Pro Racing. He sits fifth in the standings with one podium so far. He is also racing in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.