|
IndyCar fans have grown accustomed to a six- or seven-month offseason with little or no activity until Dale Coyne Racing announces its drivers a week or two before the first race of the new year. Not this time around. Since Simon Pagenaud wrapped up the 2016 IndyCar Series title at Sonoma Raceway on Sept. 18, he gained a new teammate at Penske Racing in the form of Josef Newgarden, Chip Ganassi Racing revealed it will switch camps from Chevrolet to Honda, with Tony Kanaan retained to remain in Ganassi's No. 10 car for another season. Meanwhile, Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi decided to remain in IndyCars rather than jump back to Formula One, and A.J. Foyt Racing has all but confirmed that it will jump from Honda to Chevy. Heck, last-minute master Coyne even tabbed one of his future drivers months in advance, with former IndyCar champion Sebastien Bourdais set to rejoin. And let's not forget about the successful run James Hinchcliffe is having with partner Sharna Burgess on "Dancing With The Stars" ... The new IndyCar season doesn't start until March 12, but there's plenty to digest between now and then. He's a breakdown of what we know so far: Newgarden to Penske: Barely a week into his Penske career, the 25-year-old has already tested for his new team at Road America and Gateway International Raceway, and he's settling in nicely. Some folks worry that having the IndyCar Series' brightest young star join the sport's most successful team is another case of the rich getting richer. But it took the highly rated Pagenaud a full year to become comfortable and take full advantage of the resources at his disposal, rewarding the patience of Roger Penske and team manager Tim Cindric. "I talked to him [Newgarden], and he was pretty happy with the car over at St. Louis," Penske told ESPN.com. "All in all it's going pretty good." Penske rarely selects youth over experience, but with five full-time seasons already under his belt, Newgarden arrives at Penske as a young-but-seasoned veteran. "I don't know if we're trending younger, but he's a good guy and it's great to have him on our team," Penske said. "Overall it's going to be a real strong team again next year." Ganassi to Honda: Roger Penske is a shareholder in Ilmor Engineering and the man who single-handedly brought Chevrolet back into Indy car racing. Chevrolet provides equal equipment to all of its teams, but even with all of Chip Ganassi Racing's success (including 11 championships under CART or IndyCar sanction since 1996), any team is automatically going to be No. 2 in the Chevy pecking order behind Penske. CGR started the current chassis/and engine formula as a Honda team in 2012, winning a title with Scott Dixon in 2013, but switched to Chevrolet in 2014. Dixon stole another championship in 2015, but Chevrolet's 2016 season was thoroughly dominated by Penske, with Penske taking 10 wins to Ganassi's two. Even so, it's somewhat shocking that Ganassi would switch back to Honda, given how poorly the Honda aero kit has fared over the last two years. But that's precisely the reason Honda needs Ganassi so badly, and with aero kit development frozen for 2017 until standardized body parts are rolled out a year later, Honda has the budget to recruit the top-line team and drivers that it badly needs. The feeling exists that Andretti Autosport and the other Honda teams have underperformed over the last couple of years; having Ganassi back in the fold could validate that theory very quickly and should bring competitive balance between manufacturers back to the series. In a behind-the scenes switch, former Ganassi engineer Eric Bretzman has joined the Andretti team in a technical director role. With Honda picking up Ganassi's four cars, an existing team will probably switch to Chevrolet, with the Foyt team the most likely. Team boss Larry Foyt all but verified the move, putting Honda favorite Takuma Sato's future with the team in jeopardy. "None of us are happy," Larry Foyt told Indycar.com. "A.J.'s not happy, I'm not happy, the crews aren't happy, the drivers aren't happy and certainly [sponsor] ABC Supply is not happy. We know we can do a lot better than this. "There will be some changes coming and no doubt we'll be headed a different direction next year." Kanaan, Rossi return: Once the Honda news broke, Kanaan, a favorite of fans and sponsor NTT Data, was quickly confirmed to return to Ganassi's No. 10 car. He was immediately whisked off to St. Louis at short notice for Ganassi's first Honda test at Gateway, nearly having to cancel a long-planned appearance with the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County (Indiana) until Dixon stepped in to help charter a private plane for his teammate. Kanaan, the most experienced driver in the field, will be 42 when he embarks on his 20th season in Indy cars. He's always a factor at Indianapolis, where the Honda aero package was particularly strong in 2016, making him an early favorite for next year's 500.  Meanwhile, with no competitive seats open in Formula One, last year's surprise Indy winner Rossi has opted to return to IndyCars. He'll continue to drive the No. 98 Honda for Bryan Herta Autosport in association with Andretti Autosport. Drivers for the fourth cars run by Ganassi and Andretti have not yet been determined. Bourdais back to Coyne: Sebastien Bourdais ran with Dale Coyne Racing on a part-time basis when he returned to IndyCars in 2011 after a few years away racing F1 and sports cars. After three years with KV Racing, which produced four wins, Bourdais returns to a Coyne team that continues to get more competitive every year. Justin Wilson, Mike Conway and Carlos Huerta all won races for DCR, and four-time Champ Car series champion Bourdais could put together the team's most serious championship challenge since Wilson finished sixth in the 2013 IndyCar Series standings. Joining Bourdais will be Craig Hampson, his race engineer during his successful run at Newman-Haas Racing from 2003-07, along with Olivier Boisson, his more recent engineer at KV. "Back in 2011, Dale was the one who gave me the opportunity to come back to IndyCar, and I'm looking forward to a very exciting second stint with his team," stated Bourdais.
|
