Tristan Vautier gets Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar ride at Texas

Bourdais is currently sidelined following his accident in Indianapolis 500 qualifying, with James Davison driving his car in that race before ex-Formula 1 driver Esteban Gutierrez made his debut at Detroit last weekend.

Gutierrez will skip the Texas oval race but it is understood team owner Dale Coyne is planning on keeping him for the remainder of the season.

Oriol Servia and Davison were considered the strongest candidates to drive the team's #18 entry at Texas, but 2011 Pro Mazda champion and 2012 Indy Lights champion Vautier has been given the nod.

Vautier has strong form as a sub with Coyne, having replaced Carlos Huertas in the #18 car for the Indy 500 in 2015, before taking over from Francesco Dracone in the #19 car for the balance of the season.

Since then, the Frenchman has turned his hand to sportscars, racing a Mercedes AMG GT3 in Europe alongside Felix Rosenqvist and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship's GTD class.

"We chose Tristan to fill the 18 seat at Texas because of his previous experience at Texas Motor Speedway," Coyne said.

"We think he can help the team and Ed [Jones] who has never raced or even tested there.

"Tristan has remained close with the team and he's always done a good job for us.

"I expect much of the same going into this race weekend."

Servia - who raced a second Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda at Indy and Detroit - is understood to be looking for a ride that offers multiple races, rather than just Texas.