Why Prema can shock the establishment and translate its European success into IndyCar

Pick a racing category in Europe – go on, choose one – and Prema Racing has probably won it.

In recent years, the Venetian team’s reach has diversified from the European junior single-seater competitions to endurance racing and sportscars, and found success outside of its original heartland. Yet the desire to test itself at the highest levels has continued to burn; now, Prema has embarked upon its latest journey, in the IndyCar Series. 

Although IndyCar is a championship with immense global prestige, it retains a sense of parochiality. The modern iteration of IndyCar, far removed from ‘the split’ and the subsequent reunion with Champ Car, has been reticent to stray beyond the borders of the United States, aside from Canada.

But there’s much more European interest, particularly since McLaren has enjoyed some success in its return to the US’s premier single-seater environment. And so Prema, under the leadership of Rene Rosin, felt that the time was ripe to expand. 

“The interest has been there for a couple of years,” explains Rosin. “Even more than a couple of years ago, we were looking on what to do next. On one side, Formula 1 is unreachable. And, covering everything from karting to Formula 2, we were looking for something bigger, not only for drivers, but as well for the team itself, the mechanics and engineers.

“So, two years ago, out came some ideas about IndyCar. We started digging, understanding, and putting down some numbers to see that it’s feasible – and by the end of 2023, we took the decision to join.” 

That’s a tight turnaround to get Prema’s feet under the IndyCar table. In the intervening year, Rosin’s squad has had to procure cars, a supply of Chevrolet engines, personnel, drivers, and get the facilities in Fishers, Indiana up to scratch. It’s a huge undertaking – one that the likes of McLaren, which purchased a majority shareholding in the existing Schmidt Peterson team, did not have to endure. 

After winning 42 drivers' championships across junior racing, Prema is set for its IndyCar debut in 2025

Photo by: Prema Powerteam

Prema had the luxury of being able to promote a handful of its engineers from other championships to the IndyCar project, but also wanted Stateside experience to ensure it was not diving into shark-infested waters without a flotation device.

The long-in-the-tooth Dallara chassis has surely had all of its secrets uncovered, and Prema needs the expertise to unlock performance from the get-go. There’s the added challenge of street circuits, more rugged and unkempt versus those that the team has experienced on the F1 undercard, and the altogether alien world of oval races.

Gathering personnel with savoir faire of IndyCar’s idiosyncrasies has been of high priority, and veteran Piers Phillips has come in as the squad’s CEO. The team had appeared to have pulled off a coup with the signing of renowned engineer Mike Cannon, but the American left the team after approximately three months; Rosin states that the relationship simply “didn’t merge together”. Regardless, Prema’s recruitment efforts should mitigate the loss of Cannon.

 “We have a bit of Prema DNA within the drivers. There’s been a few discussions around drivers, but then automatically it came out that the best duo was absolutely Callum and Rob" Rene Rosin

“You cannot arrive in America and think that you can teach them,” Rosin theorises, sagely. “On the other hand, we are a European team. So we want to bring a bit of Europe into America as well. And we want to do the mix of the two. 

“So this has been one of the biggest tasks, in trying to make the two things work together and keeping in mind, ‘What does it mean working with Prema, and our team mentality and so on?’ That’s basically the main task that we’ve operated in across the last six, seven months.” 

The team’s IndyCar knowledge has been augmented on the driving front with the signing of Callum Ilott. The Briton returns to the championship full-time after a year away in endurance racing, albeit with two substitute outings for McLaren in 2024, and has experience of a start-up operation after racing for the Juncos Hollinger team for two seasons – a relationship that turned toxic when Ilott and the team were frequently placed at odds. Ilott, a former Prema charge in Formula 3, will fit in much more at the Italian operation.  

Ilott contested his final F3 season with Prema, he finished fourth in the 2017 standings, and has returned to the Italian outfit for his third, full year of IndyCar

Photo by: IndyCar Series

During his time at Juncos, in spite of its limited resources, Ilott showed great pace and bookended his second season with fifth-place finishes. Ovals were initially a learning curve, but he soon dialled himself into the nuances of pack racing at eyewatering speeds; he’ll need to recapture that burgeoning form on his return to the series, after a year racing – and winning at Spa – in the World Endurance Championship with the Jota Porsche 963.  

Robert Shwartzman partners Ilott in the second car. The two know each other well – both were part of the Ferrari Driver Academy together in their junior series days and, helpfully, Shwartzman is another Prema junior product. Rosin felt that, after considering the wealth of options available, the Russo-Israeli – who, like Ilott, was a race winner in WEC last season, in AF Corse’s satellite Ferrari 499P at Austin – perfectly fitted the mould. 

“Let’s say we started to say we wanted to have one experienced driver and one rookie, but the second point to know is what it means to be racing for Prema,” adds Rosin.

“We have a bit of Prema DNA within the drivers. There’s been a few discussions around drivers, but then automatically it came out that the best duo was absolutely Callum and Rob, and I’m really, really happy to have them both.  

“They know what it means to be racing in Prema. They know each other. They’ve been working together. With that, they were working together, even if in different teams, while they were at Ferrari Driver Academy. They are two drivers with extremely high potential and talent. Look at the results they’ve done in all their series. This is something that makes the choice become quite natural.” 

The drivers are the least of Prema’s worries; the object of furrowed brows has largely been borne of that condensed build-up time. A period of intense preparation means that the team has only just finished its first series of tests, with runs at Thermal Club and Laguna Seca in California at the end of January.

Shwartzman is set for his maiden IndyCar campaign alongside Ilott, yet the team has had limited testing

Photo by: Prema Powerteam

That Prema showed impressive pace in its opening runs at Thermal, placing third and fourth in the six-car test, will have come as some relief – especially after being on-par with the Andretti Global cars. It’s only a test, but early signs are encouraging. 

Rosin, however, is not getting carried away. He knows that his family’s team, started by father Angelo in 1983, has a long way to go to truly find success across the Atlantic. 

Having a fast car is one thing, but being able to replicate that across a season, make the correct strategy calls, and produce perfect pitstops on demand all take years to master. Wisely, the team has avoided setting itself any wildly ambitious – and hubristic – performance targets for 2025.

"With the driving duo that we have, with the group of engineers we have, the group of people that we put together, I think we can be a surprise to the paddock" Rene Rosin

This is a year to learn, build harmony in the team, and start gathering partners to ensure the operation can be sustainable for years to come. But don’t mistake that for a lack of desire: Prema isn’t going to America just to fill a space on the grid. 

“We don’t want to be a number,” Rosin declares. “So that is already something. Having said that, of course, it will be for us a huge challenge, and we need to take whatever we can in the first years.

“We need to take whatever experience, getting as much data as possible in the first part of the season – but, with the driving duo that we have, with the group of engineers we have, the group of people that we put together, I think we can be a surprise to the paddock. Maybe not at the beginning on oval circuits and so on, because this is very, very difficult and very different from what we are used to. But on standard circuits, I think we can give our own opinion.” 

The long, illustrious history of IndyCar racing indicates that a European team effectively creating a start-up operation will have its work cut out mixing it with the stalwart American outfits that have defined the series. The British Carlin squad was the last to try it, but never truly managed to make its mark across the Pond. Prema has excelled in its 40-plus years of competition, but IndyCar is a truly different challenge – it cannot be overawed by it, but neither can it afford to indulge in complacency.  

‘The Prema Way’ might need a little time to adapt to the demands of America’s premier single-seater championship, but there’s no reason why it can’t bloody a few of the more established noses if it plays its cards right. 

This article is one of many in the new monthly issue of Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the March 2025 issue and subscribe today.

Rosin believes the team will be strong straight away on standard circuits, but ovals will pose the biggest challenge

Photo by: Prema Powerteam