Silly Season, 2017-18

IndyCar
- James Hinchcliffe may be the key to the silly season. Schmitt is interested in having him back and it sounds like they have the sponsorship. But Chip Ganassi Racing may be interested in his services.
- Roger Penske is returning to sportscars with a new Acura prototype. Juan Pablo Montoya is one of the drivers, and Helio Castroneves may be anmother.
- Takuma Sato may leave Andretti to join Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Rahal has occasionally run a multi-car operation, and last ran the #16 entry for James Jakes in 2013, and has run Spencer Pigot, Oriol Servia, and Luca Filippi in the car on a part time basis
- Dale Coyne wants to keep Sebastien Bourdais, and he is likely to return
- Andretti Autosport looks likely to switch to Chevrolet, but this is not a done deal.
- Supposedly if they do switch to Chevrolet, Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi are almost certainly going to leave the team
- With open seats at Andretti a possibility, Andretti has tested three Indy Lights drivers - Nico Jamin, Dalton Kellett, and Matheus Leist in their top level cars at Road America earlier this summer
- Bryan Herta is connected with Honda, and may break his team away from his one time employer Andretti Autosport and partner with Schmitt Peterson Motorsports, possibly with Alexander Rossi, who also has Honda ties.
- But Chip Ganassi Racing may try to sign Rossi away from Herta, and may replace either Kanaan or Chilton with the Californian F1 driver.
- Meanwhile, Zachary Clamen DeMehlo has tested with Sam Schmitt's team.
- Tony Kanaan is a free agent, and may be switching teams, possibly back to Andretti. Ganassi may slim down to three cars, and Charlie Kimball may want to leave.
- Max Chilton may be out at Ganassi as well, and with Carlin reportedly considering a move up to IndyCar.
- With seats at Ganassi and Andretti open, both may try to sign new drivers - some that may be under consideration, other than those mentioned above, include Ed Jones, Spencer Pigot, and Esteben Gutierriez, who may end up staying in America and persuing an IndyCar ride
- Brendon Hartley, who's won Le Mans and has plenty of race wins in the World Endurance Championship, Grand Am, and GP2, is out of a ride now that Porsche is leaving P1, and rumors place him in Indycar next year.
- Harding Racing is planning a move to full time competition, likely with Gabby Chaves, who ran a partial season with them
- Juncos Racing, which took over what used to be KV Racing Techology last year, might go full time. Carlin might as well.
- Jack Harvey will do two races for Schmitt at the end of the season and may do more next year.

Confirmed Cars
Penske - 2 - Josef Newgarden
Penske - 12 - Will Power
Penske - 22 - Simon Pagenaud
Schmitt - 5 - James Hinchcliffe or ???
Schmitt - 7 - Brendon Hartley? Robert Wickens? Sebastian Saavedra? Jack Harvey? Earl Bamber?
Ganassi - 9 - Scott Dixon
Ganassi - 10 - ???Esteben Gutierriez? Felix Rosenqvist?
Foyt - 14 - Tony Kanaan?
Rahal - 15 - Graham Rahal
Rahal - 16 - Takuma Sato
Coyne - 18 - Sébastien Bourdais
Coyne - 19 - Ed Jones? Esteben Gutierriez?
Carpenter - 20 - Ed Carpenter (ovals) and ?Spencer Pigot? (Road Courses?)
Carpenter - 21 - JR Hildebrand? Zach Veach? Spencer Pigot?
Andretti - 26 - ?Fernando Alonso? Nico Jamin? Matheus Leist? Dalton Kellett? Jack Harvey?
Andretti - 27 - Marco Andretti
Andretti - 28 - Ryan Hunter Reay
Andretti Herta - 98 - Alex Rossi
Harding - 88 - Gabby Chaves

Possible Entries / One Off Entries
Penske - 3 - Helio Castroneves (Indy only?)
Penske - ? - Juan Pablo Montoya (Indy only)
Foyt - 4 - Conor Daly?
Ganassi - 8 - Esteben Gutierriez?  Felix Rosenqvist?
Ganassi - 83 - Charlie Kimball? Felix Rosenqvist? Esteben Gutierriez?
Juncos - 11 - Zach Veach? Kyle Kaiser? (500 only, could be full time)
Juncos - 17 - Sebastian Saavedra? Kyle Kaiser? (500 only, could be full time)
Coyne - 63 - Pippa Mann (500)
Andretti - 29 - Stefan Wilson (Indy 500 only)
Lazier - 44 - Buddy Lazier (Indy 500 only - confirmed)
Foyt - 40 - Alex Tagliani? Conor Daly? Carlos Munoz? Zach Veach? (500 only)
Andretti/Michael Shank - 50 - Katherine Legge? Jack Harvey?

Monster Energy Series
- Kasey Kahne has been dropped by Hendrick and will be replaced by William Byron
- Dale Earnhardt Jr is retiring, and will be replaced by Alex Bowman
- Danica, without a major sponsor and having not performed might be dropped by SHR, who could simply close the #10 team or replace her with another driver, possibly Kahne or Matt Kenseth. Speaking of which...
- ...Kenseth is being dropped by Gibbs and replaced by Erik Jones, who returns to Gibbs, the team he ran in xfinity with, after driving for Furniture Row this year.
- Penske is expanding to three cars, with Ryan Blaney driving the third car.
- Paul Menard takes himself and his sponsorship to the Wood Brothers.
- The 27 car now lacks a driver and a sponsor, and may shut down, but...
- ...Richard Petty Motorsports may team up or even merge with RCR, meaning that RCR may have three cars, the 3 for Austin Dillon, the 31 of Ryan Newman, and the 43, driver TBA.
- Petty was apparently impressed with Darrell Wallace Jr and would consider bringing him back, perhaps in a second car if funding can be found, or even in the 43, as Almirola is a free agent after this year.
- FasLane actually signed someone to a multi year contract... Matt DiBenedetto of all people
- Front Row Motorsports is looking at Michael McDowell. It has a third charter and might use it for a third car if funding can be found.
- Kurt Busch was released from his contract but could apparently still return. Or was it? There's some confusion
- Chip Ganassi Racing lost Target as a sponsor, but apparently has a new one in the works that will allow Kyle Larson to come back
- Furniture Row will return with at least one car, driven by Martin Truex, but is trying to keep the second car, but not with Erik Jones, who moves to Gibbs. Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Darrell Wallace, and Chris Bell are all possibilities.
- Kasey Kahne could move to Levine Family Racing.

Ganassi - 1 - Jamie McMurry
Ganassi - 42 - Kyle Larson
Penske - 2 - Brad Keselowski
Penske - 12 - Ryan Blaney
Penske - 22 - Joey Logano
RCR - 3 - Austin Dillon
RCR - 31 - Ryan Newmna
SHR - 4 - Kevin Harvick
SHR - 10 - Aric Almriola
SHR - 14 - Clint Bowyer
?SHR - 41 - ?Kurt Busch
Roush - 6 - Trevor Bayne
Roush - 17 - Ricky Stenhouse
Hendrick - 9 - Chase Elliott
Hendrick - 24 - William Byron
Hendrick - 48 - Jimmie Johnson
Hendrick - 88 - Alex Bowman
JGR - 11 - Denny Hamlin
JGR - 18 - Kyle Busch
JGR - 19 - Daniel Suàrez
JGR - 20 - Erik Jones
Germain - 13 - Ty Dillon
Wood - 21 - Paul Menard
BK - 23 - ???
CircleSportTMG - 33 - ???
Front Row - 34 - ???
Front Row - 38 - ?David Ragan
JTG - 37 - Chris Buescher
JTG - 47 - AJ Allmendinger
Petty - 43 - Darrell Wallace
Levine Family - 95 - Kasey Kahne

IMSA
- Team Penske is starting a major IMSA Sportscar Operation with the new Acura ARX-05 prototype, co-developed by Oreca and Honda Performance Development. Juan Pablo Montoya has been confirmed as a driver, as has Dane Cameron. Helio Castroneves is reportedly going to quit full time IndyCar racing to take one of the other seats. The fourth full time seat is unknown, but Acura has an extensive GT program, which includes two full time drivers - Katherine Legge and Ozz Negri - who have prototype experience. One crazy rumor is that Penske might lure Ricky Taylor from his family's team.
- Surprisingly fast JDC Miller Motorsports has had a very successful 2017 and is looking to expand to two cars
- Performance Tech Motorsports, which is running (and winning) in LMPC this year, will have to move classes if they want to stay in the top series, as the PC class won't be a part of the series in 2018 (it is planned to be folded into Prototype Lites with the new P3 formula). They may end up in Prototype
- Ed Carpenter Racing is seeking to start an IMSA program. Racer wrote that it would either be in GTLM or Prototype if it happened
- BMW is opening up its GT contract, and Rahal Letterman may have competition for the bid - from Andretti Autosport! Andretti has stated its interest in a GT program, and it may happen even if it doesn't happen with BMW
- Risi Competizione faced budget issues this year, but it is trying to be back full time next season.
- Similarly, Scuderia Corsa hasn't made plans clear for next year, but Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan currently lead the championship, and seem to be content to continue driving for the prancing horse.
- Michael Shank Racing won't be a full factory team next year but could still return in some form. Andy Lally and Katherine Legge have multiple wins this year.

Team Chart
Prototype
Confirmed
Extreme Speed - Nissan - 2 - Sharp/???
Extreme Speed - Nissan - 22 - Derani/van Overbeek
Action Express - Cadillac - 5 - Fittipaldi/Barbosa
Action Express - Cadillac - 31 - ???
Penske - Acura - 6 - Montoya/Cameron
Penske - Acura - 7? - Castroneves? Ricky Taylor? Button?
Wayne Taylor - Cadillac - 10 - Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor? Alex Lynn? Jeff Gordon? (rolex 24)
United Autosport - Oreca - 22 - Owen/Norris
PR1 Mathiasen - Ligier - 52 - Gutierriez?/Pla?
Mazda Team Joest - 55 - ???
Mazda Team Joest - 70 - ???
JDC Miller - 85 - Simpson/Goikhberg
JDC Miller - ?? - ???

Sato is likely to go to Rahal at this point, and this may confirm Andretti's move to Chevrolet. I really wish I knew more about this though since it really impacts me, and if we sign Kanaan I honestly don't know what I would do...

(Is this just going to be a mega-thread for all silly seasons then?)

Indycar 2018 predictions: (IMO)

Foyt:

Munoz
Daly

Andretti:
Hunter-Reay
Rossi
Andretti
Alonso (If not Harvey)

Ganassi:

Dixon
Felix Rosenqvist
Gutierrez

Coyne:

Bourdias
Jones

Carpenter:

Veach/Carpenter
Hildebrand

Harding:

Chaves
Kannan

Juncos:

Pigot
Kyle Kaiser

Rahal:

Rahal
Sato

Schmidt:

Hinchcliffe
Santi Urrutia

Penske:

Newgarden
Pagenaud
Power

Carlin:

Chilton
Kimball

Regardless of what happens, brazilian networks are already giving away a return by Tony Kanaan, team is unknown, but at this point, despite the animosity, could be safe to assume a possible return to Ganassi.

Indycar So Far....

Foyt - 4 Conor Daly
14 Carlos Munoz

This team is bound to stay the same. I hope they can improve results next year, because they have been the most mediocre team this year (and that has nothing to do with driver talent).

Andretti - 26 Tony Kanaan (plz be Alonso)
27 Marco Andretti
28 Ryan Hunter Reay
98 Alexander Rossi

Andretti is staying with Honda, so Rossi is coming back. Kanaan could return to Andretti, but that seems unlikely with me for some reason. However, if Kanaan falls through and Alonso just doesn't happen, then Harvey, Kellett, and a few other drivers are possibilities.

Ganassi - 8 Santiago Urrutia
9 Scott Dixon
10 Felix Rosenqvist (glad to see someone else agree with this)
83 Charlie Kimball (Damn this year has been terrible for him)

I find Ganassi's situation very intriguing. Chilton seems a lock to be gone with the possibility of Carlin, and Kanaan and Kimball could very well go as well. This team will either welcome alot of new drivers, or may even scale back to three cars. Pay attention to this team during the offseason.

Carpenter - 20 Ed Carpenter/Zach Veach
21 Spencer Pigot

Hildebrand had some ups and downs, and he should be back in the 21 next year, but for now I think Hildebrand is too inconsistent. This team may also expand to three cars, but I don't see that happening.

Coyne - 18 Sebastien Bourdais
19 Ed Jones

No changes needed here, good team overall.

Rahal - 15 Graham Rahal
16 Takuma Sato

This should be interesting. Sato jumps to a brand new team again, as he makes a return to a much improved Rahal team.

Schmidt - 5 James Hinchcliffe
7 Zachary Claman DeMelo

This team may have an entirely new lineup next season. Hinch is definitely a contender in a possible revamped Ganassi team, and the 7 car's driver is a mystery. I see Hinch staying, for now.

Penske - 1 Josef Newgarden
12 Will Power
22 Simon Pagenaud

Castroneves will head to sports cars after this season ends, and Penske won't go out of their way to find a fourth car yet. This team should be the top dog, just as they are every year.

Juncos - 11 Kyle Kaiser
17 JR Hildebrand

Kaiser is bound to travel up with his team to Indycar. Hildebrand I just pulled out of my ass.

Harding - 88 Gabby Chaves

Will be interesting to see how this team performs

Carlin - 22 Max Chilton

Chilton has had ties with Carlin, and 22 is just a random number

That's a 25 car total, not too shabby at all.

For schedule

1. St Petersburg
2. Phoenix
3. Long Beach
4. Portland
5. Barber
6. Indianapolis RC
7. Indianapolis 500
8A. Detroit 1
8B. Detroit 2
9. Fort Worth
10. Elkhart Lake
11. Iowa
12. Toronto
13. Mid Ohio
14. Pocono
15. Gateway
16. Watkins Glen
17. Sonoma
18. Mexico City or Puebla (1.25 oval called Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, needs prepared properly)

A Calgary race after Toronto is a definite possibility as well

mtrimmer365 wrote:
18. Mexico City or Puebla (1.25 oval called Autodromo Miguel E. Abed, needs prepared properly)

Oh please gimme Puebla, I honestly consider this the best mexican oval ever, it's New Hampshire/Milwaukee on steroids.

Jenson Button has said he will race full time somewhere in 2018.

There are several schools of thought on this. One is that he will return to F1. Alonso could be leaving McLaren, and Button could put in one more season for his longtime team. But I'm not sure that's what either party wants, McLaren wants a younger driver most likely and Button doesn't want to end his F1 career with a diminished program possibly orphaned by Honda. Though Button did win his championship with a diminished program orphaned by Honda...

The other school of thought is that Button will run a full year outside of F1. Super GT may be an option, and he ran the Suzuka 1000km (I believe co-driving an NSX with Kosuke Matsuura (remember him?). The other possibility is that he will drive in IMSA next year. Either as a one off Rolex 24 entry with United Autosports - owned by McLaren's Zak Brown but independent of Woking - or a full time effort with Team Penske's new Acura/Honda backed prototype team that already has signed Dane Cameron and the man who replaced Button at Williams so many years ago Juan Pablo Montoya.

Jenson Button also recently bought a home in Los Angeles, and one British tabloid reported that he and his girlfriend are living there more or less full time. So... why would you move to Los Angeles if you were planning a comeback in either Japan or F1? IMSA is starting to look like a real possibility.

And, if he's driving for Penske it wouldn't be inconceivable that he could run the Indianapolis 500, though there's been essentially no rumors about that in the deal.

Sportscar365 was the first to report the Button to IMSA with Penske thing, and they did predict Penske's sportscar program a couple of years before it happened...

Andretti Autosport will stay with Honda

Alpineopossum wrote:Jenson Button has said he will race full time somewhere in 2018.

There are several schools of thought on this. One is that he will return to F1.

Jenson Button is not going back to F1 under any circumstances. He's quite obviously done with the sport.

RetrogradeRenegade wrote:

Alpineopossum wrote:Jenson Button has said he will race full time somewhere in 2018.

There are several schools of thought on this. One is that he will return to F1.

Jenson Button is not going back to F1 under any circumstances. He's quite obviously done with the sport.

I have to agree with Retro. To me, if Jenson gets back into racing, I highly doubt that he will be in a F1 car.

Tony Kanaan is likely to go to Foyt of all places, and Rahal may have a third car in 2018, though the exact info is unknown at this point.

Sam Schmitt has a shortlist in the form of a spreadsheet for 28 drivers that are contenders for the #7 car.

Two of the names confrimed to be on the shortlist are Brendon Hartley and Robert Wickens. Hartley won Le Mans this year with Porsche but is out of a job with Porsche's withdrawl from Le Mans. The New Zealander is a race winner in F3, Grand Am, and most notably the WEC where he was the champion in 2015. Wickens, an ex-DTM pilot who nearly raced at Road America, is also a major contender.

So is Jack Harvey and Sebastian Saavedra (who always seems to get rides thanks to his AFS money), as well as Earl Bamber...and 23 other drivers.

Schmitt Peterson appears to be close to resigning James Hinchcliffe to the #5, seemingly putting a damper on Hinchcliffe to Ganassi rumors.

Tristian Gommendy will run the 2018 Indy 500 after a near 11 year absence from American Open Wheel racing in a 3rd Schmidt that's funded by the former co-owner of Larousse F1. The sketchy thing about this is Didier Calmels the co-owner in question has a prior murder conviction in which he was sentenced to six years for (not longer due to French courts finding the case a "crime of passion)

Two things that haven't been mentioned yet.

First off, an official announcement is expected Friday with Andretti Autosport confirming their 2018 driver lineup, which will feature the addition of Zach Veach. Veach would replace Takuma Sato, who is leaving Andretti for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Secondly, Ed Carpenter Racing announced today that Spencer Pigot will replace JR Hildebrand in the #21 car in 2018. No word on who will replace Pigot in the #20 car or what Hildebrand will be doing next season.

Sources:
Veach: https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/zach-veach-signs-with-andretti-autosport-through-2020-951896/
Pigot: http://www.edcarpenterracing.com/ed-carpenter-racing-elevates-spencer-pigot-full-time-2018-indycar-season/

Alta wrote:Tristian Gommendy will run the 2018 Indy 500 after a near 11 year absence from American Open Wheel racing in a 3rd Schmidt that's funded by the former co-owner of Larousse F1. The sketchy thing about this is Didier Calmels the co-owner in question has a prior murder conviction in which he was sentenced to six years for (not longer due to French courts finding the case a "crime of passion)

LOL WHAT

Also, as someone who has family associated with Andretti.....I'm not a Veach fan, I hope he can impress.

A rather large disappointment, but one I expected. Ganassi will only have two cars for the upcoming Indycar season. Scott Dixon in the 9 and someone else will drive the 10

mtrimmer365 wrote:A rather large disappointment, but one I expected. Ganassi will only have two cars for the upcoming Indycar season. Scott Dixon in the 9 and someone else will drive the 10

Popular rumors say former Porsche LMP1 driver Brendon Hartley. The other favorite Felix Rosenqvist is now out of the question as he still has one more year on his contract with Formula E team Mahindra.

Some Formula E news, (mostly courtesy of the newly launched eRacing365 - the sister of the much acclaimed Sportscar365.

- Nelson Piquet Jr. is joining the Jaguar team.
- Zürich joins the calendar, after Switzerland legalized racing, which had been banned since 1955.
- New rounds also are added in Santiago, Sao Paulo, and Rome. The Sao Paulo round seems to be on the same or similar course to the 2010-2013 Indycar course.
- Neel Jani joins Dragon Racing. Jani previously drove for Porsche's P1 effort, which came to an end this year. Jani also drove at Daytona for Rebellion Racing in IMSA
- Alex Lynn is replacing Jose Maria Lopez at Virgin
- Berlin will be back next year, at the Tempelhof track.

Alpineopossum wrote:The Sao Paulo round seems to be on the same or similar course to the 2010-2013 Indycar course.

Most likely it will indeed be in the Anhembi Convention Center/Sambadrome (where that track is located), but Formula E may want to do the race in a greener area like The Ibirapuera Park, which Di Grassi actually suggested on a press release a month ago.



It also would make much more sense, the Park is the green heart of the city, and on saturdays it barely has any cars, aside from being close (walking distance) to Av. Paulista, which is the heart of São Paulo itself, the IndyCar circuit closed the Marginal Roadways for three days of absolute hell nearby.

Ed Jones is driving the #10 car for Ganassi's IndyCar program in 2018, the team announced on Twitter. NTT Data reportedly will return as a sponsor.

So Carlin is apparently serious about Indycar, and they've purchased chassis. They have so far been unable to get an engine lease, but if they are able to resolve that there is a very strong chance we see them on the grid next year.

Max Chilton has been connected to one of the drives, and lately Charlie Kimball's name is coming up as a possibility for the second one.

Meanwhile, AJ Foyt sacked Conor Daly, and is apparently interested in Mathias Leist, an up and coming Brazilian driver from Indy Lights. Daly joins Carlos Munoz, Takuma Sato, Jack Hawksworth, Mike Conway, Vitor Meira, Bruno Junqueria, and many others who have been let go by AJ in recent years.

There is a chance Daly might go back to Dale Coyne Racing, which has an opening after the unexpected departure of Ed Jones.

Apologies for the Double Post, but I have some Sportscar racing news for 2018

- Fernando Alonso is running the Rolex 24 with a team called "United Autosports," which is owned in part by McLaren boss Zak Brown, though it is independent of the Woking based team, and has been around since before Brown was involved with McLaren. Other drivers include William Owen, Lando Norris (McLaren's reserve driver), Phil Hanson, and F1 driver Paul di Resta. There will be two cars, both Ligier JSP17s with Gibson V8s.
- Porsche is pulling out of LMP1 but wants to step up its GT program, and could have three or even four cars at Le Mans as full factory GT entries
- BMW is switching from the M6 to the new M8 in GTE/GTLM and is adding a WEC operation, run by Team MTEK, one of their DTM teams.
- Cooper MacNeil is heading to Scuderia Corsa, who is dropping Christina Nielsen, and he will partner Alessandro Balzan and Jeff Segal.
- Michael Shank wants to return with two Acuras but needs funding to do so.
- Jackie Chan DC Racing wants to enter the Rolex 24, and may do so with two Oreca 07s in the Prototype class. The team won the P2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, and was a contender for the win.

Alpineopossum wrote:So Carlin is apparently serious about Indycar, and they've purchased chassis. They have so far been unable to get an engine lease, but if they are able to resolve that there is a very strong chance we see them on the grid next year.

Max Chilton has been connected to one of the drives, and lately Charlie Kimball's name is coming up as a possibility for the second one.

Meanwhile, AJ Foyt sacked Conor Daly, and is apparently interested in Mathias Leist, an up and coming Brazilian driver from Indy Lights. Daly joins Carlos Munoz, Takuma Sato, Jack Hawksworth, Mike Conway, Vitor Meira, Bruno Junqueria, and many others who have been let go by AJ in recent years.

There is a chance Daly might go back to Dale Coyne Racing, which has an opening after the unexpected departure of Ed Jones.

I'm bummed about Daly losing his ride. He ended the year on a pretty strong run of finishes. Hopefully he can land the second Coyne ride.

I've heard murmurs about a second Harding full time car, but most places are saying it will more likely be an Indy only second car. Gabby Chaves is all but confirmed for the first full time car.

I've also heard Daly mentioned around the #20 Carpenter car for road courses as well.

http://www.racer.com/nascar/item/145800-patrick-to-close-career-with-daytona-indy-in-2018

Oh boy

Formula 1

Sauber Form Relationship with Alfa Romeo, Sign Leclerc

2017 backmarkers Sauber have been given a boost for their 2018 campaign. Sauber announced yesterday that they have signed Charles Leclerc to drive alongside Marcus Ericsson.

Sauber also revealed a concept livery after forming a partnership with returning Alfa Romeo. At this moment, I am not sure how much Alfa Romeo will contribute to Sauber.

Some IndyCar things to catch up on:

- Calmels Sport has pulled their Tristan Gommendy entry for the Indianapolis 500, meaning the debate for the slowest car at the race has begun again. Jack Harvey will join in a part time effort between Michael Shank and Sam Schmidt, as a replacement in a way, but Harvey actually has potential

- Carlin has moved two full time cars up to the IndyCar level. The drivers will be Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball (so its basically Ganassi Rejects Racing)

- Marco Andretti will move to the 98 while Alexander Rossi will move to the 27