Two seasons at DCR left Jakes with a solid baseline to build from, and now that he’s joined one of the elite teams in the paddock, the Briton expects it to show in his results.

“I look at it as I learned the tracks and car with Dale Coyne, and I think you’ll see better consistency with my results,” he said. “I need to do better in qualifying. I won’t sit here and say it will all be fixed, but we showed promise in the races and we know you have to qualify up front to be up front.”

If all goes well, Jakes says he wouldn’t mind signing a long-term deal with RLL.

“We’ll see how the season goes and then make that decision,” he noted. “There’s no reason it couldn’t extend on for two or three years. I know Bobby would like that. Continuity plays a big deal.”

Rahal and Jakes will be joined by Mike Conway at Long Beach, with Conway’s opportunity possibly expanding to more races if the sponsorship can be secured.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.