Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais returned for a second year at KVSH Racing and teamed with rookie Stefano Coletti to drive for the team co-owned by Kevin Kalkhoven, James "Sulli" Sullivan and 1996 champion Jimmy Vasser.
Bourdais won two races and was in the championship hunt until late in the season while Monte Carlo resident Coletti had a challenging rookie season. The team fielded a third entry at the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 for Bryan Clauson.
Sebastien Bourdais
Races: 16
Average finishing position: 10.88
Four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais showed some of his former glory during his second season behind the wheel of the No. 11 Chevrolet for KVSH Racing.
He finished the season 10th in points and was running at the finish of 14 of 16 races. The Le Mans native won the second race of the Belle Isle doubleheader, leading 18 laps after starting ninth. He won his second race of the season with a dominating performance at the historic Milwaukee Mile, leading 118 laps after starting 11th on the grid.
He led a total of 145 laps during the 2015 season and completed over 90% of the total laps run over the course of the year. His best qualifying position was third at Mid-Ohio but he was consistently in the Fast Six, mixing it up with Penske and Ganassi's top dogs.
Bourdais was as high as sixth in the points standings until two disappointing finishes at the final two races of the season at Pocono and Sonoma which saw him drop to 10th.
"We were very consistent with our lone weakness on the big superspeedways but we mostly fixed the short oval stuff," said the French driver. "Hopefully in Year 3 it will be the lucky charm."
Stefano Coletti
Races: 16
Average finishing position: 18.5
Monaco-born Stefano Coletti joined KV Racing Technology and the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2015 after driving for several years in the GP2 series, where he earned eight wins in four seasons.
His rookie season in IndyCar was a learning experience for the young driver who struggled with the unfamiliar tracks. He easily completed rookie orientation for the Indianapolis 500 and became the first native of Monaco to compete in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing since Louis Chiron in 1929. His day at the Speedway on May 24 ended early, however, after contact on Lap 175.
His best finish of the season was eighth on the Indianapolis road course for the second-annual Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he finished 11 of the 16 races of the year.
Coletti finished 19th in points for the season.
Bryan Clauson
Races: 1
Average finishing position: 31
Multiple-time USAC champion Bryan Clauson returned to the Brickyard after three years to drive the third KVSH Racing/Jonathan Byrd's Chevrolet.
The Noblesville, Indiana native started 30th in the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and finished 31st after contact on Lap 61. He drove his own version of "the Double" by racing in the 500 and then heading to Kokomo Speedway for the Kokomo Klassic that evening.
What went right?
Bourdais was a serious contender for the championship up until the final two races of the season when he finished 20th or worse. He won two races and showed flashes of the dominate Bourdais of the Champ Car era. He started in the top-10 in 11 of the 16 races and has started 53 consecutive races since returning to the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Coletti spent his rookie year learning the tracks of the calendar and did well, despite the Rookie of the Year award going to Gabby Chaves of Bryan Herta Autosport.
What went wrong?
Bourdais had some impressive races and showed that when he gets to the front, the odds of the No. 11 Chevrolet taking the victory were quite high.
Coletti's rookie season didn't necessarily go wrong given the fact that he was completely new to both the car and all the tracks, but just one top-10 finish (IMS road course; eighth place) was the highlight of his 2015 season.
Looking ahead to 2016
Bourdais appears to have hit his stride with KVSH Racing and should be a real threat for the 2016 championship. It will be interesting to see how Coletti develops further compared to other drivers that are new to the series, including Gabby Chaves who will also enter his second year in INDYCAR's premier series after winning the Indy Lights title in 2014.
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