CFH IndyCar team close to Chevrolet deal for 2015

CFH is in the process of being created through a union between Ed Carpenter Racing and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.

Multiple sources have confirmed to AUTOSPORT that Chevrolet is in advanced talks to supply engines and aero kits to the new team, although the deal is still yet to be finalised.

Co-owner/driver Carpenter offered few details, but said that he is pleased at how the new team is coming together.

"We should have [the manufacturer deal] sorted out within a week, I think," he said.

"I'm really excited. We [ECR and SFHR] are already starting to work on development plans together; combining what we were both planning to do, so it's encouraging."

Despite the ongoing discussions with Chevrolet, AUTOSPORT understands that Honda remains hopeful of convincing CFH Racing to join its 2015 roster, where it would add some needed depth to the manufacturer's stable of multi-car teams.

Honda had four single-car squads in its line-up in 2014, whereas Chevrolet only had one; a situation that the Japanese manufacturer admitted tested the limits of its engineering resources during race weekends.

Prior to the merge, Carpenter's team had been aligned with Chevrolet while SFHR was in the Honda camp.

Speaking at Fontana two weeks ago, Honda Performance Development vice-president and COO Steve Eriksen said that he believed the team would be a good addition to the Honda family.

"You talk to Ed, he's very complimentary about Chevy. If you talk to Sarah [Fisher], she'd say the same about Honda," said Eriksen.

"Our approach in that kind of case is really to try to educate Ed about what makes us unique, what makes us different perhaps in our approach than Chevy.

"It's not that one's right or one's wrong. It's does our flavour of how we approach things offer any appeal to Ed, who is used to only one direction in a competitive era?

"Ed knows us from the time we supplied the whole field. In the competition field, it's very different."