Why IndyCar’s longest silly-season is still far from over

The traditional who-goes-where gossip started early in the IndyCar paddock this year. One of the reasons for this was that youngsters were regularly matching and/or beating the series veterans in a season when many of the elders are in the final year of their current contracts. Team owners therefore cast a wandering eye around the paddock, and the sharper ones also looked at the drivers making stars of themselves in Indy Lights and Formula 2.

The speculation then gained momentum in the summer break, although it’s doubtful whether anyone expected Meyer Shank Racing to trigger it with the announcement that Helio Castroneves was joining the team full-time in 2022 - after winning his fourth Indianapolis 500 in May - and that Jack Harvey was departing. Even MSR itself was somewhat shocked by Harvey’s decision to leave.

Just a few days after that revelation came an interesting test by the team that is likely to be Harvey’s employer in 2022 – Rahal Letterman Lanigan.

Formula 2 racer Christian Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren SP refugee Oliver Askew impressed everyone involved in their programme at Barber Motorsports Park, with the result was that Lundgaard started the August Indianapolis road course race – from fourth on the grid! – while Askew has two more races at Laguna Seca and Long Beach to make his bid for a full-time return to IndyCar in 2022, after his Portland return was curtailed by contact from Sebastien Bourdais. The concussion Askew suffered in his 2020 Indy 500 crash also dealt a heavy blow to the 2019 Indy Lights champion's career momentum, and he deserves another (sustained) chance to prove his considerable worth.

Another driver who is the focus of much attention during the final leg of the season is newcomer Callum Ilott, as the newly-renamed Juncos Hollinger team returns to the top of US open-wheel in preparation for a full-season campaign in 2022. Currently Ferrari's Formula 1 test driver, Ilott will see out the season following a mixed debut at Portland, but his future is a question mark. Will he continue his role with Ferrari? Stay on as an Alfa Romeo F1 reserve? Will he be groomed for a role in Ferrari's World Endurance Championship Hypercar programme in 2023?

Whatever his European plans, Ilott is far too talented to be allowed to fall through the many fissures in the open-wheel landscape, and far too sensible to be racing in IndyCar just to get a ‘Been there, done that’ T-shirt. Consider him part of the silly-season discussion.

Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images

Another Ferrari-linked driver with a hugely impressive Formula 3 record – although he’s been inexplicably unable to convert that into F2 form so far – is 20-year-old New Zealander Marcus Armstrong. He’s been in on-and-off contact with Dale Coyne for over a year now, and visited the IndyCar paddock last month in Nashville.

“IndyCar in general is a fantastic option for all of the top guys who for one reason or another are not in Formula 1 yet,” he said at Monza last weekend. “I think Callum Ilott has proved that. IndyCar is the next best thing and I think many agree on that.”

However, Armstrong stressed that “there are no deals done” yet and his focus remains on the final three F2 rounds of this season.

The speculation surrounding Frenchmen Romain Grosjean and Simon Pagenaud has also sparked much intrigue. The ex-Haas F1 driver's future, Autosport understands, is settled, while 2016 IndyCar champion and 2019 Indy 500 winner Pagenaud's future is believed to be sorted too - although the man himself has been the soul of discretion.

Here’s what Autosport expects to play out at each team in 2022.

Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Photo by: James J Black

Chip Ganassi Racing

Championship leader Alex Palou and team stalwart Scott Dixon will be back next year and Marcus Ericsson is understood to be far closer to a contract renewal than he was a month ago. Fifth in the standings, not too far behind Dixon, the ex-F1 racer's confidence is blossoming having scored his first two IndyCar wins at Detroit and Nashville and he may yet have more potential. Chip Ganassi would be crazy to dump him.

NASCAR convert Jimmie Johnson will also continue with the full road/street course programme (Tony Kanaan having driven his car on the ovals) and appears set to run the Indianapolis 500 and possibly Texas following his positive test at the 1.44-mile track last month. It's not totally unlikely that he will do the full season, including all ovals.

Kanaan meanwhile is already contracted to run all the ovals in 2022, so it appears CGR will need to have five fully-staffed cars at some races next year. It’s a tough ask to find enough quality staff at a time when IndyCar is starting to boom and IMSA is on the brink of doing likewise - so it will hope there aren’t any IndyCar oval/IMSA clashes to allow at least one of its anticipated two IMSA crews to alternate between series.

Team Penske

There's a distinct possibility that Penske will downsize to three full-time entries for Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, with Pagenaud moving on. However, Penske is understood to have a fourth full-time Chevrolet engine lease for next year. It is unclear whether its contract with Chevrolet requires the squad to run four cars, although Roger Penske’s alliance with Chevy engine-builders Ilmor presumably means that any such deal could be changed.

Penske is believed to have considered a move for ECR's Rinus VeeKay, but the Dutchman is unavailable.

Could the legendary squad swoop for another rookie, just a year after bringing McLaughlin across the Pacific from Australian Supercars? Floridian 22-year-old Kyle Kirkwood's rapid rise through the junior ranks, winning F4, F3, US F2000 and Indy Pro 2000 titles, suggests that the Indy Lights title challenger would be far less of a gamble than McLaughlin was. He appears to be full of the same promise as recent Lights graduates Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta and VeeKay, and Penske may decide it would rather hire him than have him as a competitor in future years…

Kyle Kirkwood could be in-demand if he wins this year's Indy Lights title

Photo by: Indy Lights

Andretti Autosport

Ryan Hunter-Reay's departure after 11 years, confirmed on Tuesday, marks a transitional moment in the team's history as the driver who most recently won a title for Michael Andretti's team back in 2012. He and James Hinchcliffe will be gone from Andretti’s full-time roster, with Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi set to be joined by Grosjean and Indy Lights graduate Devlin DeFrancesco. Marco Andretti will be back for the Indy 500 once again.

If Kirkwood wins this year’s Lights title – thereby gaining $1.2m to put toward three guaranteed IndyCar races next year – Andretti could feasibly run him for those three races (and maybe a couple more), while also keeping him occupied in Formula E until a full-time vacancy arises in IndyCar. But that may not be enticement enough for Kirkwood, who is looking for a full-time IndyCar opportunity in 2022.

Meyer Shank Racing

As stated, we know Castroneves will be one of the team’s full-timers. The second car is likely to be driven by Pagenaud, who will therefore dovetail his IndyCar duties with appearances for MSR's Acura IMSA team in endurance races as a possible precursor to his involvement in the 2023 Acura/Honda LMDh programme. 

Arrow McLaren SP

According to one team insider, the chances of the team (which will be under the majority ownership of McLaren next year) running three full-time cars in 2022 has retreated somewhat, while another suggests the chances haven’t shifted in percentage terms since McLaren CEO Zak Brown and team president Taylor Kiel discussed the subject last month.

For now, it’s just O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist on the driving front. When the time comes to expand – possibly at the Indy 500, having run veteran Juan Pablo Montoya this year, and sporadically thereafter – expect to see a rookie, whether from Lights or F2. It would be useful to run someone who has nothing to unlearn when tackling the team’s unique handling set-ups.

VeeKay is expected to stay with Ed Carpenter Racing

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Ed Carpenter Racing

The performance-based contract between VeeKay and ECR is understood to have been met, so they will be staying together for a third season. That’s great for IndyCar as a whole, because while the team may not yet be as consistent as the traditional ‘big teams’, it can beat the best on its day - as VeeKay proved in winning the GP of Indy in May.

The second car – the #20 that Ed Carpenter himself drives on the ovals – remains the subject of speculation because the US Air Force sponsorship is up for renewal on an annual basis. But in the mix are current incumbent Conor Daly, Hunter-Reay, current Indy Lights points leader David Malukas and Askew - who stood in impressively for the injured VeeKay at Road America.

Currently, ECR runs three cars only for the Indy 500, when the #20 car's road/street course driver gets the extra entry. That is likely to remain the case in 2022. 

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Graham Rahal is guaranteed to stay on, while Harvey is expected to drive a second car. Team regular Takuma Sato is still a possibility for a third RLL entry, which will become a full-time programme in 2022, but team co-owner Bobby Rahal is keeping his options open.

Antonio Felix da Costa has taken himself off the rumour mill, the Portuguese having also impressed the team in a test at Barber last year, but Askew, Lundgaard or any of his F2 peers fed up with waiting for their big F1 break remains a possibility.

Askew is attempting to put himself in the frame for a drive at RLL

Photo by: Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images

Dale Coyne Racing

Autosport understands that Sato is leaning toward campaigning the DCR with Rick Ware Racing entry that has been Grosjean's ticket to career revival. The respect between team owner Dale Coyne and Sato is mutual, and the team could use someone who knows how to win an Indy 500 or two.

Coyne's track record in scouting out European talents (before Grosjean, Palou was given his break by the little team from Ilinois), means it wouldn’t be a shock to see any of the top 10 F2 drivers arriving here, but don’t rule out Malukas from these talks either. 

Kirkwood has become the subject of speculation surrounding the #18 DCR with Vasser Sullivan ride currently inhabited by Ed Jones, having established a strong bond with Jimmy Vasser and James Sullivan while driving their Lexus in IMSA last season.

Coyne is unlikely to pair two rookies, unless he was to expand to three full-time entries and run Sato in the other, which also seems unlikely. But occasional outings for a third Coyne car, possibly with Ryan Norman at the wheel as at Mid-Ohio, are to be expected.

Juncos Hollinger Racing

If Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger can land Ilott for a full season, we can expect that’s exactly what they’ll do, despite the obvious difficulties of employing a driver new to almost all of the tracks running without a team-mate.

Should that idea not come to fruition, other strong F2 candidates are likely to be available, or it could be a great project for a series veteran such as Hunter-Reay should he fail to land the Carpenter seat.

AJ Foyt Racing

Dalton Kellett is keen to continue with the team and his father’s K-Line sponsor is apparently happy to back the #4 car for another year. Bourdais hasn't even tried speaking with other teams and so as long as ROKiT wish to stay involved, he wants to continue to push Foyt’s team back to consistent respectability.

Bourdais is happy to stay at A.J. Foyt Enterprises

Photo by: Gavin Baker / Motorsport Images