Since Der Wurld de Motorsporten never Sleeps!
Yeah, its been strange for Mwah the past few
months. Waiting and waiting to get my ‘Ol Desktop Confuzer’ upgraded to Windows
11 specification before the enforced October 14th deadline. Which I’ll scribble
about in another riveting No Fenders post, albeit, its been very liberating not
madly poondin’ away on thoust keyboard…
Naturally, this has caused me to try poondin’
out copious stories for future consumption, like this one. Hence my prose is
somewhat outdated.
Case-in-point was after having finished
scribblin’ about some Belated Driver news. We got another IndyCar Driver’s
confirmation along with several teams testing.
Be still my
beating Heart! Did Dale Coyne actually announce His second IndyCar driver and
assign car numbers before Halloween. Trick or Treat?
Thus Arse-sumedly everyone knows about Dale
Coyne Racing (DCR) having confirmed reigning Indy NXT Champion Dennis Hauger as
one of its two drivers for next year.
Along with their new technical alliance with
Andretti Global. Which sees DCR receiving componentry and engineering set-up
advice. Guessing that means Dampers, i.e.; Shocks from Andretti?
Whilst Coyne will rely upon its own in-house
Engineering staff, most notably noted engineer Michael Cannon. With Dale Coyne
noting how Cannon and Craig Hansen, now at Andretti, have worked together in
the past. And have a good relationship.
And speaking of Andretti Global. I’d be remiss
if I didn’t mention that former Team Penske Managing Director Ron Ruzewski has
now become Andretti’s new IndyCar Team Principal, and will begin in January.
With Rob Edwards, the previous Chief Operating Officer, (COO) moving into a new
role at TWG Motorsports. Becoming its new Chief Performance officer . (CPO) overseeing all of their vast motorsports
portfolio, i.e.; Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR, Sports Cars, Formula E and Indy
NXT. Although Ruzewski will be in charge of both IndyCar and Indy NXT’s
day-to-day operations.
Team Penske “rented” Mid-Ohio back on October
1st, with a total of five teams attending. As Penske ran Sports Car Ace Felipe
Nasr, who finished quickest of all. Just slightly ahead of countryman Caio Collet,
with the Indy NXT driver piloting the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises car.
Fellow Indy NXT Chip Ganassi Racing driver Niels
Koolen sampled the team’s No. 8 entry. Kakunoshin Kaku’ Ohta drove one of Meyer
Shank Racing’s Honda’s, along with the aforementioned Hauger driving for Coyne.
With everyone making their respective IndyCar debuts, with the exception of
Nasr., who’s tested multiple times for Penske
Then there was the “Big” test at Mother
Speedway. With Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing testing Mick Schumacher on the
2.439-mile, 14 turns permanent road course on October 13th. Although it was
expected that at least Andretti Global would join the IMS test and give
Andretti Global Indy NXT driver Lochie Hughes His debut IndyCar outing.
Whilst presumably other IndyCar teams would
show up at IMS. As according to The Pit Window, Schumacher and Hughes were
slated to be joined by Caio Collet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Dennis Hauger for
DCR. Both of Ed Carpenter Racing’s (ECR) regular drivers Alexander Rossi and
Christian Rasmussen. Plus Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) with Indy NXT driver
James Roe.
Then according to Marshall Pruett, Enzo
Fittipaldi would test again for Arrow McLaren on Sebring’s Short Course later
in October. As once again , would other teams join the party?
As Enzo, younger brother of Pietro Fittipaldi
made His IndyCar debut testing alongside His brother at Sebring in 2023. Then
tested for Arrow McLaren last November at the Thermal Club for Arrow McLaren.
Also according to Pruett, Enzo is rumoured to
be moving to Indy NXT next season, driving for HMD Motorsports.
Interestingly, and I totally missed the memo.
The Cadillac Formula 1 Team announced Pietro Fittipaldi as its Development
Driver on October 1st.
One other item that tripped my No. 4 wire,
albeit just pure speculation upon my part. Especially with Dale Coyne saying
they needed to Walk before running with the Andretti Global partnership. Yet
mentioning how Andretti global had other Indy NXT drivers in its pipeline
they’d like to advance to IndyCar…
I immediately thought of Lochie Hughes, who
presumably will run a sophomore campaign in Indy NXT next year. And then He
could take over Dennis Hauger’s IndyCar seat at Coyne, apprentice for a year and
then replace fellow Aussie’ DJ WillyP’, aka Will Power’s seat? With Hauger
presumably taking over Marcus Ericsson’s No. 28 ride?
But that’s just plain speculating upon my part,
and only time will tell…
Meanwhile, Hughes has just officially hired
Michael Patrizi as His manager. As the pair have worked together over the years
unofficially, with Hughes saying it seemed time to have a manager.
Having also missed the memo of Lochie being
announced as Andretti global IndyCar reserve driver on October 8th, when I was
preoccupied with my Confuzers Windoughz’ 11 Arse-similation, Yuck!
And that Hughes will indeed contest a second
year in Indy NXT with Andretti Global for 2026.
Whilst previously, I know I heard somebody
saying they’d seen Romain Grosjean in conversation with Andretti global during
the Battle on The Bricks weekend, which I think was Marshall Pruett.
Thus, Grosjean joining Coyne with potentially past engineer Olivier Boissan makes perfect sense for the No. 18 DCR entry…
