Italian Ghiotto, 29, most recently competed in the opening round of the European Le Mans Championship earlier this year with Inter Europol Competition, finishing eighth in the Four Hours of Barcelona.
Ghiotto competed in five full-time seasons in F1’s feeder series from 2016-20 (it was called GP2 in ’16 before becoming F2) scoring seven wins during that stretch and finishing a best of third in the 2019 championship with Virtuosi Racing.
He also recently served as the test and simulator driver for the Nissan Formula E team in 2022-23.
In addition to taking the reins of Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 51 Honda for this weekend’s race on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama, Ghiotto will also drive the next round on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on 10-11 May.
“I’m very excited to be making my NTT IndyCar Series debut this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park,” shared Ghiotto, who met up with the Chicago-based team earlier this week.
“I’ve spent the majority of my career overseas but was always intrigued and wanting to try IndyCar. It will be my first time driving this car and my first time at this track, so there’s a steep learning curve and challenge ahead of me but I am very much looking forward to it.”
Among his extensive experience, Ghiotto was also a test driver for the Williams Formula 1 team in 2017. He took part in that year's post-Hungarian Grand Prix test, driving alongside Felipe Massa.
“We know it won’t be an easy first race for Luca jumping in the car like this with no testing whatsoever,” said team owner Dale Coyne.
“That said, he has plenty of experience in different types of race cars and has proven himself over the years. We look forward to seeing what he can do in the next two races and know that he will bring experience and knowledge to the team.”
