2022 Indycar silly season

[MonteCristo]

Bottom post of the previous page:

And Ilott in at Juncos all of next year:

Callum Ilott’s audition for Juncos Hollinger Racing has gone well enough for the 22-year-old Briton to earn the team’s confidence and a contract to remain in the No. 77 Chevy as its full-time driver in 2022.

The Alfa Romeo Formula 1 reserve driver and Ferrari F1 test driver will lead the team owned by Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger, which is actively seeking more high-caliber team members to support Ilott’s rookie campaign in NTT IndyCar Series.

In two races with JHR at Portland and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Ilott’s shown considerable promise while learning the car, tracks, and intricacies of American open-wheel racing. He’ll complete the initial three-race stint with JHR this weekend in Long Beach and then move onto preparing for the 17-round IndyCar calendar that starts in February.

https://racer.com/2021/09/24/ilott-retu ... r-in-2022/

Good on him, and good luck. Hopefully the team improves with some experience. I imagine they're very rusty.

[Ruslan]

Romain Grosjean officially confirmed at Andretti. Devlin DeFrancesco will move up from IndyLights to the fourth car.

Cool. Now will they get the consistently fast Grosjean, or the inconsistent and fast version? We have seen both in past.

[MonteCristo]

Romain Grosjean officially confirmed at Andretti. Devlin DeFrancesco will move up from IndyLights to the fourth car.

Cool. Now will they get the consistently fast Grosjean, or the inconsistent and fast version? We have seen both in past.

When he's hot, he's very hot.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Hey, Hulkenberg would be a nice addition to the grid. There are not enough seats in F1 as it is.

Just need KMag to land somewhere and we can get this party started.

Plus Albon!

This would sort of ratchet the overall level of driving to a higher plane. That has been my complaint about the series for the last couple of decades. A half-dozen former F1 drivers would do the trick.

Wont be Albon in the mix.... he is confirmed as George Russell's replacement at Williams.
But the Hulk has now said his F1 days / dream is over and looking at Indy as an option.
Be good to add an LM24 winner to the Indycar mix.

[John]

Devlin deFransesco. What a joke.

[Cheeveer]

Devlin deFransesco. What a joke.

that 4th Andretti car is shite, better try to squeeze some money out of it rather than ruining Kirkwood's career with it?

[John]

Devlin deFransesco. What a joke.

that 4th Andretti car is shite, better try to squeeze some money out of it rather than ruining Kirkwood's career with it?

True. Another option would be to get the 4th car back in line. Not sure if it's been the crappy drivers or the entire #29 team that's awful. But seeing how CGR got the #8 turned around its not unfeasible.

[MonteCristo]

https://racer.com/2021/09/25/foyt-consi ... -for-2022/

Foyt considering three-car IndyCar program for 2022

Presumably that would be Kellett + Seabass + other if that eventuates.

From the story:

Although the identity of a third driver remains far from confirmed, RACER understands Colombia’s Tatiana Calderon, who carries support from ROKIT and tested for the team earlier in the year, is under consideration for the seat.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Pagenaud to leave Penske and join Meyer Shank Racing in 2022 *Confirmed*

Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud will leave Team Penske and join former team-mate Helio Castroneves at Meyer Shank Racing for next year.

It will mark the first time that MSR has run two full-time entries in IndyCar since its series debut in 2017 with a one-off entry in the Indianapolis 500.

As an aside 'Pags' is expected to be part of MSR’s Acura line-up for the IMSA SportsCar endurance races as a precursor to their Le Mans campaign with LMDh cars from 2023.

[Ruslan]

You know, the season started with 24 cars at Birmingham, had 35 at Indy, and ended with 28 cars at Long Beach. So are we looking at a couple of more new entries next year (Foyt and Meyer Shank)? This series really does look like it is re-surfacing.

Tempted to catch the Birmingham race next year on 1 May and then drive down to Miami for the Grand Prix on 8 May.

[MonteCristo]

You know, the season started with 24 cars at Birmingham, had 35 at Indy, and ended with 28 cars at Long Beach. So are we looking at a couple of more new entries next year (Foyt and Meyer Shank)? This series really does look like it is re-surfacing.

Shank has their two cars set. There won't be more (unless they run a third at IMS oval/maybe RC in May - and I haven't heard anything about that being a possibility).

Foyt has said they might run three. I'd put that as a slim possibility only though.

Top Gun Racing are hoping to add extra races next year to their (2?) appearances in 2021. Can't see them doing the full season though. But maybe 5-6?

Rahal should run three cars all season (they didn't run the first third of 2021).

Who knows what will happen with the third Coyne/Ware car. I think Cody Ware was meant to run like 3-4 races next year. I guess they could ride-buy the rest of the season if someone has money to bring.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing always say they want back in full time. But can't see that happening.

Johnson will likely do the full season, so I guess there might be an extra car at Ganassi for the oval races with Kanaan?

Penske might drop a car though with Pags leaving. But rumours of Kirkwood (Coyne another possibility for him)? *shrug* (and speaking of Kirkwood - not sure where Malukas could go too - he has money.)

Tempted to catch the Birmingham race next year on 1 May and then drive down to Miami for the Grand Prix on 8 May.

Do it!

[MonteCristo]

You know, the season started with 24 cars at Birmingham, had 35 at Indy, and ended with 28 cars at Long Beach. So are we looking at a couple of more new entries next year (Foyt and Meyer Shank)? This series really does look like it is re-surfacing.

Shank has their two cars set. There won't be more (unless they run a third at IMS oval/maybe RC in May - and I haven't heard anything about that being a possibility).

Foyt has said they might run three. I'd put that as a slim possibility only though.

Top Gun Racing are hoping to add extra races next year to their (2?) appearances in 2021. Can't see them doing the full season though. But maybe 5-6?

Rahal should run three cars all season (they didn't run the first third of 2021).

Who knows what will happen with the third Coyne/Ware car. I think Cody Ware was meant to run like 3-4 races next year. I guess they could ride-buy the rest of the season if someone has money to bring.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing always say they want back in full time. But can't see that happening.

Johnson will likely do the full season, so I guess there might be an extra car at Ganassi for the oval races with Kanaan?

Penske might drop a car though with Pags leaving. But rumours of Kirkwood? *shrug* (and speaking of Kirkwood - not sure where Malukas could go too - he has money.)

Also, forgot that Juncos is obviously full time next year compared to the three or four it was this year. But they had also indicated aspirations of a second car in the next year or two. So it's possible that they could do some extra races next year.

[Ruslan]

@MonteCristo, so what is the total full-time car count for next year?

[Ruslan]

Tempted to catch the Birmingham race next year on 1 May and then drive down to Miami for the Grand Prix on 8 May.

Do it!

Almost certainly will. I have family in Birmingham, although it has been a couple of decades since I have been down there.

[MonteCristo]

@MonteCristo, so what is the total full-time car count for next year?

I think it's about 26 full time more or less confirmed (eg: assuming 3 Rahal cars with Harvey in one, etc; but only counting 3 Penskes).

If stars align, it could go up to 28-29 full time cars, plus one or two part timers at most races. Some tracks will struggle to run that many with pit boxes.

(Oh, also, Carlin could put a second car out again if they find somebody to fund it. But I could also see them falling over. I think they're the weakest team at the moment financially. And McLaren also said they would like to run three eventually - they might do the IMS May double too.)

EDIT: And speaking of... In Carlin news: https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news ... n/6675598/

Stephanie Tindall, who helps run the Carlin team, believes that one of the squad’s current Formula 2 stars Dan Ticktum, would be ideal for the NTT IndyCar Series.

Someone to root against if that happened.

Regarding Carlin’s IndyCar plans for 2022, Tindall said nothing could be confirmed presently, but that she and Trevor are hoping Max Chilton will continue. Chilton currently competes on all road and street courses plus the Indianapolis 500, while the #59 Carlin-Chevrolet is driven by Conor Daly on the other ovals.

[MonteCristo]

Meanwhile, Seabass looks like he'll only be part-time next year because of IMSA... Shame.

https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/bo ... 4RmcDpJbUI

Bourdais to race IMSA full-time, IndyCar part-time in ’22

Sebastien Bourdais is expected to be confirmed as a full-time IMSA Prototype driver for 2022, and is now seeking to fill his non-sportscar weekends racing an IndyCar for A.J. Foyt Racing-Chevrolet.

The 42-year-old Frenchman has pledged his support for Foyt’s team in 2022 – what he intends to be his final season of open-wheel racing – but it will be on a part-time basis.

The four-time Indy car [Champ Car World Series] champion is expected to be announced as a full-timer in one of the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs run by Chip Ganassi Racing, as the legendary team expands to two Prototype entries in the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, ahead of its campaigning Cadillac’s new LMDh Prototype in 2023.