Current Formula 1 Constructors who’ve Won at Le Mans

Although when is an F1 Constructor not a winner at Le Mans?

 

Yeah, its another long winded No Fenders story turned into two part harmony. Or is that more groaning I hear?

 

As I’ve already covered the most successful Formula 1 constructor to win Le Mans overall. With the rest of the grid paling in comparison.

 

As I came up with the following trivia question. What do Mercedes and Williams share in common? As here’s what I came up with for winners, beside Ferrari.

 

Aston Martin: 1959

The Aston Martin DBR1 is the only other front engine winner at Le Mans. And yes, I realize that today’s Aston Martin F1 Team began life as Jordan Grand Prix, before Lawrence Stroll cleverly rebranded it as Aston Martin in 2021. Born out of the ashes of Force India and its interim name of Racing Point. Which dovetails nicely with His owning the controlling interest of their road car company.

 

As many will known, the David Brown owned Aston Martin Racing team designed the DBR1 for the 1956 Sports Car Championship season, before the upgraded 3.0-liter straight six cylinder lump’ was introduced in 1957.

 

After three years of frustration, Aston Martin achieved their greatest glory, winning that year’s 24 Heurs du Mans with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori at its controls. While Aston Martin would also win the Sports Car Championship title that year. Only achieved three times that decade. With Ferrari doing likewise in 1954 and 1958.

 

Yet how many remember that Aston Martin during the David Brown Corporation era also entered Formula 1 briefly between 1959-60? Although by the time they got round to introducing the DBR4 it was obsolete. Along with the lighter, replacement DBR5, both being front engine layouts with straight six engines. When Sir Blackjack’, aka Jack Brabham was dominating the sport in His Cooper rear engine racecar…

 

Alpine: 1978

Alpine has a long, tangled relationship with Renault, its parent company. With today’s Alpine F1 Team having been rebranded from the latest iteration of Renault in 2021.

 

Although Alpine had been merged into Renault Sport in 1976. Nevertheless, it assimilation included its Sports Car racing programme.  Which Renault wished to win Le Mans for the prestige of winning on home soil.

 

Interestingly, there were actually four Renault-Alpine’s entered in the 1978 race, one being a customer entry, with different models entered. Including the controversial ‘Bubble” top roof which was only raced upon the winning Alpine A442B.

 

As Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the latest A443, said the acrylic bubble top partial roof made them feel claustrophobic and trapped engine heat in the cockpit. Along with obscuring vision. Even though Depailler set a top speed of 236mph on the Mulsanne Straight! As the acrylic “canopy” gave the car an extra 5mph…

 

Thus it was Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud winning aboard their bubble roof A442B.

 

And with the victory complete, Renault withdrew from endurance racing to focus their energies upon Formula 1. Before returning to endurance racing first with the A480, a rebadged Rebellion R13. Grandfathered into the ACO’sLMP1 Hypercar rules between 2021-22. And then today’s current factory Alpine A424 Hypercar programme. Which includes the likes of Mick Schumacher as one of the team’s six drivers.

 

Sauber: 1989

Peter Sauber began His long motorsports career by racing in Hill climbs in 1970 in a car of His own construction. While Sauber first competed at Le Mans in 1978 with its C5 Sports Car.

 

Sauber’s association with Mercedes Benz began in 1985, supplying engines for the Sauber C8 Group C chassis, with the C9 being introduced in 1987.

 

Sauber officially became the Mercedes Benz Werks Sports Car team the following year, and the C9 not only won at Le Mans in 1989, but also claimed the Constructors and Drivers titles that year.

 

The C9 was the second fastest car ever at Circuit de la Sarthe, recording a terminal velocity of 248mph, the magic 400kp/h on the Mulsanne Straight!

 

The renamed Mercedes Sauber C9 was replaced by the C11 for 1990, which also won the Constructors and Drivers titles again, before ultimately being replaced by the C291.

 

It was these “Silver Arrows” Sauber Sports Cars that I believe first brought my Attenzione to a young German driver named Herr Schumacher. As I tend to recall that Michael Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger drove together as Junior Drivers for Mercedes in Group C, before all three advanced to formula 1.

 

Sauber itself made the leap from Sports Car racing at the end of the Group C era to F1 in 1993 with Mercedes backing, taking over the supply of Leyton House March’s Ilmor V-10 lumps’. Having remained in F1 ever since under various guises. And will become the Werks Audi F1 Team next year.

 

McLaren: 1995

Presume everyone knows of the evocative McLaren F1 GTR winning le 24 Heurs du Mans with Lanzante Motorsports in 1995. With J.J. Letho, Yanick Dalmas and Kokusai Kaihatsu at the controls of the No. 59 LMGT1 entry.

 

As the racecar was developed from the original McLaren Supercar designed by Gordon Murray, with its unique three seat layout, seating the driver’s lone seat in the cabin’s centre.

 

As I’m guessing that McLaren is the only Constructor to have won Frederico Suave, nee Fred Alonso’s mythical “Triple Crown”, i.e.; Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and either the Monaco Grand Prix or the F1 World Championship…

 

Williams: 1999

Yeah, technically Team Willy’s never won Le Mans, which I’m aware of. Yet I included them since Williams Grand Prix engineering designed, built and developed the winning BMW V-12 LMR Prototype that Yanick Dalmas, Pierluigi Martini and Joachim Winkelhock drove to victory that year.

 

RETRO: Remembering some of BMW’s Sports Racing Cars

 

The quick answer to my trivia question above is the year 1999. Although it was also when Mark Handlebarz’ Webber and other members of the Mercedes Werks team went airborne and spectacularly barrel-rolled their CLR Prototypes. Which had a nasty habit of somersaulting due to high speed aerodynamic deficiency, Youza! 

Talking “Tech” with Tino Belli

Although the Dallara DW12 Ain’t going anywhere soon…

 

Back when I could easily read Racer’s website before the maligned Racer 2.0 launch of its graphically laden website on May  12th. Which doesn’t conform to WCAG 2.2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards, Urgh! Which reputedly Racer’s working to rectify. Although I’ve been holding my breath for several weeks now, eagerly awaiting its update, chirp-Chirp, Bueller?

 

As the website’s got other issues or bugs to iron out, which I doubt will happen, but I digress…

 

Marshall Pruett’s story Wayback’ in March regarding Tino Belli being called upon to “Beautify” the next generation Dallara IndyCar, has a very interesting podcast associated with it.

 

As Pruett spent nearly 90mins talking with Belli Wayback’ in 2018 after the introduction of the UAK 18, i.e.; Universal Aero Kit, which being unable to “See”, know it’s vastly superior to those dreaded, and thankfully forgotten about Chevy v Honda Aero Kit Wars of 2015-17.

 

As it’s a great interview worth listening too…

 

IndyCar turns to Tino Belli to enhance looks of next Chassis

 

Reading between the proverbial tea leaves, it sounded to Mwah that IndyCar is planning on sticking with just presenting a “warmed” over updated version of the current Dallara DW12 as the next generation IndyCar, with Belli leading the design of its aesthetics…

 

Yet we all know that on Friday of this year’s Road America IndyCar race weekend, IndyCar and IMS leader Doug Boles announced that IndyCar would be debuting the long awaited next generation chassis in 2028.

 

The racecar will once again be produced by Dallara, targeting to be 85-100lbs lighter. Which basically gets back to pre-Hybrid, Err Energy Recovery system (ERS) weight, since the ERS added an ungainly 100lbs to the DW12’s rear!

 

Xtrac, the current gearbox supplier will continue in this role, providing a new 25lbs lighter unit that shares components with the Indy NXT chassis, for those running in both series.

 

While current brake supplier Performance Friction Corporation (PFC) will continue as sole supplier of braking systems.

 

A new ergonomic cockpit will be utilized, including the integration of the Aeroscreen, which was an “Add-on” component to the current DW12 chassis.

 

On the power side, the new racecar will get the previously announced 2.4-litre V-6 twin turbocharged lumps’, ergo Internal Combustion Engine. (ICE) Replete with ERS, albeit the Hybrid unit will feature more power and improved performance…

 

As you’d like to Arse-sume this new “clean-sheet” chassis design will allow for better weight distribution, leading to better handling and better performance overall.

 

Track testing of the new Dallara chassis will commence in 2026, and then once again, all teams will have to buy brand new racecars for the 2028 IndyCar season, when the venerable 15yr old DW12 is finally retired! 

INDYCAR: Robb Walks Away from Big Accident

As four cars were Done Torn Up at race’s end!

 

It’s pretty sad that Sting Ray robb’s last lap accident aboard the No. 41 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara Chevy was more exciting than the race itself!

 

As Robb apparently was caught off guard over a slowing Alexander Rossi, whose Arrow McLaren Chevrolet ran out of fuel on the final lap of Sunday’s Iowa IndyCar race.

 

As Robb clipped Rossi’s rear wheel and was launched skywards, barrel rolling at least twice before coming to a stop upside down upon His Aeroscreen!

 

After being taken to a nearby local Hospital for further imaging, Robb was released from Hospital and got away with a nasty accident!

 

Following the race, a terse Rossi when interviewed by IndyCar Radio said He’d run out of fuel when asked what happened? Saying the team just isn’t executing…

 

Having to make you wonder if Rossi’s somewhat relieved to be leaving Arrow McLaren at season’s end… 

Turnin’ Right at Indianapolis

But Yuhs still Makes ah circle, even if running Backwards at IMS…

 

While I’d argue that you couldn’t say that this year’s Indy GP was a Great race, I’d have to say it was a very good race overall. Making me think of Grizzled F1 Journo’ Joe Saward who likes to point out the various tyre strategies during a formula 1 race make things Berry, Berry Interesting. Shush, We’re Huntin’ Wabbits, Hya!

 

Thus I found myself intrigued over all of the various tyre strategies being played out during the Indy GP, specifically which segment of the race to use the unwanted Black primary Firestone compound, since the Alternate red rubber was the preferred tyre.

 

And it was funny how I found myself somewhat conflicted whilst rootin’ for Romain Grosjean to do the unthinkable and win his maiden IndyCar race in only his third outing. Since surely this would cause many Across thou Puddle to portray how “Weak” the IndyCar competition was if they’d All been shown up by an F1 Refugee! Righto Sir Lewis? But I found myself rootin’ for him to win because it would be great for Romain and that plucky ‘lil Band ‘O Merrymen at Dale Coyne & Company.

 

Even stranger yet was rootin’ against my current Number 2 Favourite IndyCar Driver Rinus VeeKay, who I’m happy to say scored his Debutante IndyCar victory in dramatic style on Mother Speedway’s infield Road Course, giving Fast Eddie’, aka Ed Carpenter’s (ECR) Racing Team it’s first victory in nearly five years, when Josef Newgarden won at Iowa in July, 2016. Ironically five years to the very day that Max Verstappen won his maiden Formula 1 race at Barcelona.

 

As Grosjean who led the race’s first 44-laps and VeeKay who led the final 33-laps, Hmm? Where have I heard that number 33 before, Eh? Were undoubtably the Stars of the race, leaving everybody else in Thar wake! As Romain simply didn’t have the ultimate pace upon the black Flinstone’ rubber during his lone stint upon it and Rinus seized the moment, passing the Rookie IndyCar Frenchman into Turn 12 before saying Sayonara! As not even the brief rain sprinkles or needing to conserve fuel could deny the Dutchman!

 

Have to say I got a kick outta Graham Rahal’s Heated In-car radio transmission ‘bout their race strategy being Stupid! And then ultimately soldiering home to a fifth place finish after reluctantly running to a fuel saving number All race long. As may be you should leave the race strategy to the Engineers after all Graham!

 

Whilst I must say that I’m most Cornfuzed over that newest member of IndyCar’s vaunted “Big 4” not showing up over the entire weekend. As Arrow McLaren SP with three cars, since originally I wasn’t aware that Juan Pablo Montoya would be running the “Indy Double,” seemed a Ghost of his past Self Ontrack this weekend.

 

While I read on Racer.com AMSP “Boss” Taylor Keele claiming that Montoya and the No. 86 Boyz’ were just using the Indy GP as a tune-up for the Indianapolis 500, nonetheless, JPM started P25, Dead last and even being Outqualified by Jimmy Johnson, YOUCH! Before finishing P21 and think he ultimately went One lap down when trying to keep race leader VeeKay behind him.

 

As my question is has the Dallara DW12 changed that radically since Monty’ last drove one in the 2017 Indy 500 for Team Penske? As I know we’ve got the Universal Aero Kit (UAK) on the IR18 Dallara Spec chassis now. Along with the Aeroscreen adding what was it? 50 or 60lb atop the racecar and changing it’s balance. But is this a sign of how Team Penske’s cars are superior vs. the Upstart Arrow McLaren SP wanna-be’s or an indication of how much more competitive the field has become vs. Montoya’s Skills diminishing due to being 45 and having been away from IndyCar’s for four years?

 

Then again, Pato O’Ward was pretty much invisible this weekend with a less than impressive 15^th place finish after starting P18. While Felix rosenqvist’s Rollercoaster season continued, seeing the Swede finish P17, albeit qualifying a team best 13^th.

 

As I’m Not saying that Montoya’s a Slouch behind the wheel, and have never thought so. But it’s gotta smart somewhat to finish one place behind A.J. Foyt Racing’s Dalton Kellett, who in F1 Parlance would be deemed nothing more than a “Pay Driver,” Zoinks!

 

While what to say about the Andretti Autosport Boyz’, Eh? In what ultimately had to be another disappointing performance, although at least Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay righted their beleaguered Ships somewhat by moving up multiple places to finish P7 and 12^th respectively… 

The Tomaso Files: Fourth 'O July's three Ring Circuses Races Hype mostly Exceeds Expectations

What's that 'bout the Postman Always Rings Twice? Although Paul Revere never used this modern day incarnation of a custom Bimmer' to deliver his Rebel Yell. (The Tomaso Collection)

Although should I really be Surprised? Since presumably it's Dan-Dan-Danickers'; Err My Fault for expecting so much, Eh?

I suppose I'm somewhat temporarily Afflicted by Ye Quickly approaching languid Dog-Dazes' Afternoons 'O Summer right now, not to mention the constantly shifting light playing Bloody Havoc with what little I can see Onscreen! Making it Uber Difficult to work upon anything; SIGH!

Not to mention the Delayed implementation of Google's Blogger platform "Upgrade," URGH! Or that I've been spending copious amounts 'o time trying to find a Gory web-based Internets service that will interface easily with my 'Ol School Zoomtext Screen Reader programme; Oh Never Mind!

Alas, I find Thyself somewhat unmotivated to 'write" anything for Ye No Fenders Blog momentarily, now that Thee All Knowing gOOgle Monster's slid it's unwanted Blogger Update 'til thou end of July...

Arse-sumedly this "Tiny Dancer's" Morose is partially due a Wee Bitamyte' that just two Gory weeks shy of my intended company's arrival I still didn't know what state of COVID 19 Pandemic "Rebirth" Mode Oregon would be in? (although like most States, we're going the wrong way.) Or if Oregonians and the General Public Behaved over Ye Fourth?

Seven White Men from Washington Arrested at Lincoln City Beach forRacism towards Black Family, Illegal Fireworks

And it's Funny how much I expected from thou Three Ringed Circus 'O Motorsports over Ye Fourth 'O July's weekend, since I Don't watch/follow RASSCAR', although i was hoping for some precipitation during thou Cup-Lite' Road Race at Mother Speedway to Spice Up the Show.

Since Taxicab Bombers' on rain tyres with Thar single wiper trying to clean the Windscreen on a Road Course would be interesting!

As Shades 'O Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Grand National Slugfest with KuhNucks' TAG', nee Alex Tagliani and Pat "The Carpenter" (Carpentier) from Wayback' come to mind...

Although apparently it was a good 'Ol Donnybrook without thou Wet Stuff, with A.J. Allmendinger & Austin Cindric Beatin' and Bangin' to No Avail!

As it was the IMSA Sports Cars race at DayToner' that got Dumped Upon by Mother Nature instead, Eh? Since they were Delayed by 45mins due to a Thunder 'N Lightning Storm's Delay, Yikes! Or should i say Static Electricity? Z-A-P!

As those traveling from Thee Indy GP outing, nee IndyCar Talkin' Head (Townsend) T-Bell', who was doing his own version of Ye Double! Since he Moonlights as an IMSA GTD (Daytona) Chauffer of the AIM Vasser Sullivan #12 Lexus RC F GT3 racecar.

Along with his two Bosses, i.e.; Top Jimmy', aka Jimmy Vasser and James "Sully" Sullivan, along with Mike Shank, Co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing All aboard a Chartered Flight had to divert to Jacksonville instead of landing at Daytona's Airfield as originally planned.

But once again, IndyCar seemed to be playing Second Fiddle to RASSCAR; URGH! Seriously? No IndyCar Pre or Post-race shows, but Thars a 1hr Sing-along for the Taxicabs preceding the second tier Cup-Lite Bombers; WTF!

Or the totally Disjointed and completely Out of Place interruptions during the IndyCar race by Mike Sunday Night Football Tirico and Dale Jarrett, BARF!

And can we Puh-Puh-Please, Pretty Please either completely get rid of the Uber Annoying Gladiator "Bumper" theme music played ceaselessly during every Gory Intro' and rampant, runaway Commercial Breaks! Since Yuhs know, NBC does truly stand for Nothing But Commercials!

Or at the very least turn I-T Down! Since Thars NO Excuse for Not having figured out the sound levels by now. As Seriously? I can barely hear Leigh Diffey over the Roman Gladiator Fight Musak - BARF!

Oh Yeah, I almost forgot, there was that Indy GP race first thingy' Saturday morning for those of us on the west coast. And like others in Ye Blogosphere', it wasn't a Snoozer, but another Scott Dixon Beatdown did little to make it overly exciting.

And I must say I found it excruciatingly Difficult to stay focused or engaged by the BLA-BLA-BLA Gladiator theme Musak' Blasting my Hearing every 7-8, or was it Six brief minutes before NBC just had to run some more Commercials, Jackarses! Although at least Dixon finally stopped Penske's Domination at Mother Speedway.

As I'll let Racer's Marshall Pruett do ye Heavy Lifting once again, especially since his views upon the Aeroscreen are quite blunt! whilst I believe Marshall knows what He's telling us.

PRUETT: Notes from the Speedway

Whilst Racer's Elder Statesman 'Ol R', aka Robin Miller, Ye Curmudgeon 'O IndyCar's also reported  on how insanely Hot the Aeroscreen's "Greenhouse" was for the Drivers during the first two IndyCar events, albeit IndyCar has taken several steps since to try aiding the Drivers, i.e.; moving the Drinks Bottle location, Adding another Cooling Vent and allowing the Crew Member Cleaning the Aeroscreen to give Drivers Cold water bottles during Pit Stops.

Cockpit Heat A Brutal Challenge in Indy GP

Meanwhile, the Rain Delay at DayToner' somewhat Dampened my enthusiasm for the race, albeit it was great hearing Der Heindenmeier's, nee John Hindhaugh's voice again, along with Jeremy Shaw and Shea Adam. But I found myself having trouble staying focused, especially since Thar Sound levels were even Wonkier than IndyCar's were; GROAN! As Pit Reporter Shea Adam was Boomin' over the Racecars, whilst Shaw was at just above medium volume while Hindhaugh's voice was quite Muted, making it Uber Annoying to listen too!

Thus I really Didn't care a whole lot at the end of the race, which is sad since Sports Cars had been Dormant for just over five Gory months! Along with the wrong Mazda won, since I'm a Fan of Tristan Nunez's...

Tincknell, Bomarito lead Mazda 1-2 Finish at Daytona

And I Swore I wasn't gonna do it, but apparently the Siren Song 'O 20 PU's at Spielberg was too much for Mwah, since my internal clock woke me up prior to the Gory 5AM F1 Preamble, for which I dually arose! And I managed to stay awake thru the whole bloody Pre-race and Austrian Grand Prix, which I must say was most entertaining! With le piece de la Resistance being Lando Norris throwing down a Qualie' lap at race's end to Demote Golden Child Off the Podium, Hurrah!

Bottas Dominates Chaos filled Austrian Grand Prix

As I really enjoy Alexander Albon's Youthfulness and think He's a pretty good Driver, albeit He needs to Quit letting Golden Child Push Him Around! Like C'mon Alex, next time Hamilton tries Squeezing You, Hit 'em Back! Although Albon's Quip to TV Reporters after Thar latest collision at Austria was priceless!

Alexander Albon

"I'm a bit Fresh right now, so I've got to be Careful about what I say..."

Albon says Collision with Hamilton Cost Him Potential Win

Whilst I certainly made the right call the following weekend when I didn't bother getting up for another Lewis Hamilton Whitewash, this time at is it Thee Styrian GP or the Steiermark GP? For which the Sunday Road America IndyCar race was far more interesting!

As 'Ol Hobbo, nee HobbsCapp', aka David Hobbs used to proclaim 'bout his F1 Colleague Professor (Steve) Matchett having Eyes Sharp as Rats; CRIKEYS! Yuhs Eagled Eyed Blog Readers will have noticed that the image above was Bungled previously due to Technical Issues; Err Operator Error in a previous No Fenders post...

(Picture c/o JD' Creations)

Alexander Albon Quote via Reuters

INDYCAR: Third Times A Charm for truly Kick Starting 2020 Season

Like haven't we already had two mundane Season Openers?

First off, NBC has announced their TV Schedule for the following five races, beginning with this Saturday's Indy GP live on Big NBC - thru to the July 17-18 Iowa Double Header, with the remainder to be announced later.

As you can catch the Indy GP Qualifying on NBC Sports this Friday at 1:30PM Pacific. But as Always, Check Your local listings!

NBC Confirms Telecasts for Upcoming IndyCar races

So I'm not gonna lament the Texas IndyCar race too much, since i Don't think it really did a whole lot to move Thee Needle, Eh? As I found myself far more intrigued by the Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1hr Download Special with Darrell Wallace Jr. immediately following the race instead! Which that in itself speaks volumes to Mwah 'bout how much of a Dud the Texas race was...

And Kudos to All of the Pit Crews and other Supporting Cast members for managing to stay on their feet for 24 straight Hours in the Baking 97deg-f Heat! Whilst I'll let Racer's Marshall Pruett do the Heavy lifting regarding the travails of this Texas IndyCar One Day experiment.

PRUETT: Texas Reflections

And speaking 'O experiments, IndyCar's brand new Aeroscreen certainly got plenty 'O testing at Texas Motor Speedway. (TMS) And although I've yet to hear anything about Driver Cooling issues, along with Glare issues. I'd say that the Aeroscreen performed Far Better than that Slippery liquids PJ1 Sealant did! As Shame On You TMS and Eddie Gossage!

Texas Aeroscreen Debut A Trial by Fire

Whilst the Field of 33's Paul Dalbey has an interesting take upon what the real Problema with IndyCar Oval racing is right now. Noting how he thinks the Universal Aero Kit (UAK) of the current Dallara IR-18 chassis is the culprit...

Texas Wrap-up

And I'll further agree with Messer Dalbey, which Pains me to do so! But the secondary Drive-thru penalties for Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal for their Hondre' lumps' refusing to start on the grid was indeed overly Harsh!

As they'd already been sent to the back of the field and further penalizing them for fidgety E-E-E-lectrics' in the Blistering Heat of Texas coupled with the Honda Engineers Not being Allowed to be alongside the vehicles due to mandated Social Distancing seems well You Know!

As I'm totally 100% in favour of taking All the necessary Safety Precautions possible, and everybody Staying Safe! But some common sense needs to be allowed. As will IndyCar do the same thing again this weekend during it's "signature" Indy GP Road Race alongside NASCAR's Xfinity series competitors on National TV? since I'll Arse-sume it'll be Hot-Hot-Hot Once Again at Mother Speedway.

Meanwhile, I'd expect the IndyCar starting Grid to look exactly the same as TMS with All 25 entries present, since I Don't think Taku-san', nee Takuma Sato will Clout the Wall again! Ditto for Rinus VeeKay, Eddie!

With the only Wildcard being  who'll be in the #31 Carlin entry? Since I'd Arse-sume' they'll need to begin running two cars at Indianapolis if they want to keep Thar Leaders Circle "Prize" Money, Righto?

And we know that Conor Daly who did Yeoman's work for Carlin at TMS bringing the lone #59 Carlin entry home in sixth place will be at his "Day Job" of piloting Fast Eddies' No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) mount, since the Boss is only driving on Ovals per Tipicali.

Thus Max Chilton will be making his season's Debut at Carlin aboard his #59 chariot, whilst I've got Zero Clue who'll be in the No. 31?

Since although I'd really like to see Felipe Nasr get to make his IndyCar Debut,

I'm pretty certain that Ain't gonna happen this weekend since he'll be busy at his Day Job in Florida chauffeuring the #31 Whelen Engineering Caddy' at Daytona International Speedway. As Nasr is the 2018 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship Prototypes Champion, along with Defending 12 Hours of Sebring winner.

Thus I can only speculate if Carlin does run it's No. 31 entry, Thars plenty 'O Drivers to choose from. As I'm sure either Spencer Pigot or Stefan Stork' Wilson's available, along with Oriel "Suitcase" Servia for starters. Or either RC Enerson or Sage Karam, as both have driven for them previously. But Heavens Forbid for Carlin to let us know in advance...

OOPSADAISY! Scratch That, since after I'd finished typing that, I learned that Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (DRR) have entered Sage Karam in their #24 Dallara Chevy for this year's Indy GP. Thar first Road Race in some Gory seven years; Aye Karumba! 

INDYCAR: 2020 Season Set to Begin in Earnest, Again...

Update

You probably already know that Spencer Pigot's running a third Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry, (RLLR) the #45 Honder' this weekend at Indianapolis, which I've mentioned in the following No Fenders Blurb.

INDYCAR: 26 Car Grid Set for Indy GP

Also, Unfortunately Felipe Nasr who was indeed set to race the No. 31 Caddy' Prototype  (DPi) at DayToner' in the Weathertech 240 July 4th, has tested Positive for COVID 19 and former Harding Steinbrenner Racing IndyCar Driver Gabby Chaves will substitute for Nasr instead.

Nasr tests Positive for COVID 19, Chaves to Sub for Him