2013 IndyCar Drivers/Teams thread

[IndyAndy]

Okay; It's taken me a copule of days to pull this all togeather because, with IndyCar, the off-season is always chocked full 'o rumours and last minute deals - and it certainly isn't over yet.

But; here's were I think things stand ATM, based on what I believe to be the most credible sources:

Penske: Castroneves/Power/***
Ganassi: Franchitti/Dixon/Kimball
Andretti: Hunter-Reay/Andretti/Hinchcliffe
KV: Kanaan/de Silvestro
Foyt: Sato
SFHR: Newgarden
RLLR: Rahal
Schmidt: Pagenaud/partial schedule for Hamilton?
Dragon: Bourdais/Legge
Coyne: Wilson
Panther: Hildebrand
DRR: Servia
Herta: Tagliani
Carpenter: Carpenter

*** Penske HAS filed for a 3rd full time entry: No driver announced yet.

The following are the most likely teams to add another car:

RLLR/Coyne/Dragon/Schmidt/Andretti

HVM is still looking to sign a driver for 2013. Former IndyCar participants Newman/Haas and Conquest may also still be looking to get back into the frey.

The following drivers w/o contracts are the most likely to be shopping around for a ride:

Ryan Briscoe: Clearly the most talented, but lacks sponsor cash.

EJ Viso: Mr. crash-happy brings mega Chavez/Venezuelan petroleum bucks to the table. Says that he want to start his own team, but ride-buying seems the most likely option.

Ana Beatriz: Has yet to live up to the promise of her Indy Lights days, but brings Brazilian petroleum bucks to the table.

James Jakes: ??? - Not sure about his sponsorship backing.

Pippa Mann: Has shown well in back-marker cars (esp. Indy '11), but does she have the $???

Tristian Vautier: '12 Indy Lights Champion - Surely that should count for something.

 

[IndyAndy]

Hmmm... yeah; okay.

Conway signs one race (Long Beach) deal with RLLR

I like Mike & all, and I appreciate that he has good personal reason to be wary of ovals, but if he's not willing to make a full season go of IndyCar - including ovals - then maybe he'd be better served to find a sportscar seat somewhere.

 

[IndyAndy]

Great to see that the 'Road to Indy' developmental ladder system is working as intended.

speddtv.com: Vautier joins Schmidt

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Sato racing for Foyt always makes me shake my head. Someone needs to take his damn driving credentials before be kills someone.

 

[IndyAndy]

Andretti reportedly has staff in place for four full season cars: Announcement of 4th driver rumoured to happen sometime next week.

 

[IndyAndy]

James Jakes gets the 2nd (full time) seat at RLLR. Hard to say what he's really capable of after two years with the lowly Coyne squad, but at least now we'll get to find out for sure.

Not 'official' yet, but when Indianapolis Star reporter Curt Cavin is saying that it's gonna happen, that's usually as good as money...

Andretti will announce later this week that they've signed EJ Viso to their fourth car.

 

[IndyAndy]

Oh, my - This is one of those; "I didn't see this comming, but I probably should have" things:

foxsports.com:Allmendinger comming to IndyCar?

A tip of the hat to Roger for giving 'Dinger another chance. Let's hope that he can keep his act togeather this time. I remember him in his CCWS days: He could be a diamond in the rough.

 

[IndyAndy]

News from Dragon Racing yesterday:

Sebastien Saavedra is in - & Katherine Legge is out!

autoweek.com

Don't get me wrong: I think that the kid has plenty of potential - I just feel bad for Kat, who keeps getting the rug pulled out from underneith her just as she seems to finally be settled in somewhere.

 

[forty_three]

Sato racing for Foyt always makes me shake my head. Someone needs to take his damn driving credentials before be kills someone.

It's Al Unser Jr all over again.

I am interested to see what Rahal does in that car. Taku kept it pretty consistently in the front half of the field. Graham has some skills, but had mechanical failures. I hope it all comes together.

 

[IndyAndy]

Looks like Katherine Legge is not going away without a fight:

huffingtonpost.com

Would love to know the 'fine print' in her contract with Dragon: These things are usually full of 'performance' clauses and other 'opt outs', which is where (I'm sure) Dragon will make their stand.

*******

IN OTHER NEWS:

Here's Curt Cavin's latest Indianapolis Star article. - Of particular note is the later half of it, which indicates that the optional areo kit issue (this was the whole reason for choosing the DW12, wasn't it?) is still unresolved, and that a new Indy Lights chassis is not in the offing anytime soon.

indystar.com

 

[forty_three]

Looks like Katherine Legge is not going away without a fight:

huffingtonpost.com

Would love to know the 'fine print' in her contract with Dragon: These things are usually full of 'performance' clauses and other 'opt outs', which is where (I'm sure) Dragon will make their stand.

Seb weighs in on it, in his typical awkward fashion:
Sebastien Bourdais says Katherine Legge has to earn the job - ESPN

Bottom line is, on average she finished 20th. Saying she's getting dropped because she's a woman is crap. Any driver who averages 20th is simply not good enough to last. In fact, her sponsor and the fact that she's a woman probably had her last longer than she would have if she was male.

 

[IndyAndy]

Interesting development on the 2nd seat at Coyne - which looks to be the last seat up for grabs.

Here are a couple of tweets from Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star:

Curt Cavin ‏@curtcavin
Justin Wilson getting teammate: His brother Stefan, who will be on all road courses but Brazil. Ana Beatriz on that and others. #IndyCar

Curt Cavin ‏@curtcavin
Not sure how much Stefan is going to discuss his deal because I'm told contract not finalized, but he'll be testing tomorrow. #IndyCar

Cool to see if it happens (& Cavin is usually right, so...). I wondered what happened to Stefan, who kind of fell off the radar last year.

 

[IndyAndy]

Great news (IMO, at least!): Ryan Briscoe has his foot back in the door, so to speak...

Briscoe to run Indy with Ganassi

Hopefully this will lead to more opportunitites later in the year.

 

[IndyAndy]

Some rather big news out of IndyCar yesterday: Panther Racing has parted ways with JR Hildebrand & brought in Ryan Briscoe.

indycar.com

Also, Dale Coyne Racing will put Mike Conway in the #18 car for (at least) Belle Isle. - This move is not as 'unexpected' as the situation at Panther because Ana Beatriz's sponsorship $ was probably not enough for a full season anyway. I expect that we'll see Ana & Mike - and maybe a few others? - rotating in & out of that seat for the rest of the year.

 

[IndyAndy]

So; I'm guessing that it will basically be Beatriz, Conway & Mann splitting up the seat time in the #18 for the rest of the season.

indycar.com - Mann in for Coyne at Texas

 

[Retroram52]

Conway is going to make the ladies participation nearly null and void. Evidence. His race accomplishments at Belle Isle!!

 

[IndyAndy]

Conway won't race ovals. - After what happened to him during his last two drives at Indy, I can't blame him.

I know that this isn't what I was saying back in Feb/March but, since there are no full time takers for the #18 anyways...

Ana & Pippa can bring some $ to keep the 2nd crew paid while they wait for the twisties, when they can get some good results.

 

[IndyAndy]

More news today: Servia is in the Panther #4 for Texas, Iowa. Seems that Oriol & DRR parted ways after Indy (I didn't notice that they weren't at Belle Isle!).

www.indycar.com

So it looks like DRR is closing up shop for the rest of 2013 - & Panther will have a revolving door for drivers for the remainder of the season.

 

[Retroram52]

Just not enough sponsor dollars to go around and the IRL is not marketing itself properly in a stinky economy!!

 

[Retroram52]

It seems Andretti Autosport and Penske have the bucks with Ganassi comin' in third. This is not a good sign overall!!