Oregonian teenager John Pierson will place his full focus on the Indy NXT by Firestone series next year with the defending series champions at HMD Motorsports.
Having split his time between European endurance racing and American junior open-wheel competition in recent years, Pierson is set to return to HMD and contest the complete 14-race calendar in preparation for a desired future move to the NTT IndyCar Series.
“It was a learning year for me,” said Pierson. “I wanted to gain as much experience as possible, and feel like we did just that. With the lack of testing before the 2023 season, we will be in a much better place entering our 2024 campaign.”
The 17-year-old will also continue to function as an Ed Carpenter Racing Junior Driver, where he’ll be embedded with the IndyCar team throughout next season. In the nine races he did with HMD in 2023, Pierson’s top performance came on the Iowa oval where he placed sixth.
“Josh is young and has a bright future ahead of him in 2024,” said HMD Motorsports GM Mike Maurini. “As a team and with his focus on the Indy NXT campaign in 2024, we have made some changes in his program that I think will be beneficial both on and off the track. We are looking forward to helping not only his progress, but success as well.”