Rinus Veekay reveals some family members "gave up" IndyCar hopes before Dale Coyne signed him

Rinus Veekay became the final driver signing for the 2025 IndyCar season with Dale Coyne Racing making the official announcement on Valentine's Day. After his first test session with the team at the Sebring International Raceway on Monday, he spoke about how some people back home had given up hopes of him finding an IndyCar seat for this year.

Veekay spoke with IndyCar reporter Marshall Pruett about how his parents and family were relieved that he got a shot at his 6th IndyCar season.

"Everybody was very relieved just that it was done and you know, there were some people back home that had hope (and) some that kind of gave up. But right now, having an IndyCar seat - the news was amazing for me, but also for everybody out there. I'm happy that my fans still get to see me in IndyCar and it's going to be a good year," the Dutch driver said (1:42 onwards).

Rinus Veekay debuted in IndyCar in 2020 and raced the No. 21 Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing for five years. He recorded his first and only win at the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis and concluded the stint with an average standings finish of 13th place. ECR replaced him with 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi for the 2025 season.

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Rinus Veekay left with mixed feelings after first day of IndyCar Sebring test

AUTO: AUG 16 NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

Rinus Veekay piloted his No. 18 DCR Honda for the first time on Monday morning at Sebring. He completed 51 laps around the 1.67-mile circuit with a fastest time of 53.2007s, which came in his 34th lap. This lap time put him 13th out of 14 in the first session and 23rd overall.

The 24-year-old had a challenging time on his first day out with his new team. According to Veekay, this stemmed from two factors - his not having driven for any IndyCar team other than ECR, and this being his first time driving an Indy car with a Honda Engine. ECR used Chevrolet engines. He also elaborated on his learnings and how rookie teammate Jacob Abel will facilitate their testing process.

"There's some stuff we liked. There's some stuff we didn't like. So Jacob's gonna verify that. We're gonna try some other stuff and hopefully, we get a little bit more clear view on what to do and of course, we get the nice sunset tomorrow, so we can go have the quick lap times," he told Marshall Pruett (at 1:10).

Rinus Veekay will return to the track with Dale Coyne Racing for the Tuesday afternoon session. It will be his final chance to maximize the on-track inputs before IndyCar heads to the streets of St. Petersburg for the season opener on March 2.