Tag: Devlin DeFrancesco

2024 IndyCar full-time entry options down to one team

It’s the second week of January and nine out of the NTT IndyCar Series’ 10 full-time teams have their drivers signed and ready to go for the March 10 season opener on the Floridian streets of St. Petersburg. That’s a testament to the stability of …

It’s the second week of January and nine out of the NTT IndyCar Series’ 10 full-time teams have their drivers signed and ready to go for the March 10 season opener on the Floridian streets of St. Petersburg.

That’s a testament to the stability of the paddock as the majority of the teams — all privately-owned businesses — have secured the budgets, personnel, and driving talent to have their programs locked in at a comparatively early point in the year. It’s a notable change from how the process usually works.

Getting into late January and early February with two or three incomplete rosters has been common throughout the years, and on more than one occasion, the season’s final full-time driver has rocked up at Round 1 to meet their new team and pose for official series photos the day before the opening practice session. But that shouldn’t be the case in 2024, as 25 of the 27 drivers who’ll comprise the grid across 17 rounds are signed and confirmed.

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The 10th and final team to nominate its drivers is Dale Coyne Racing which, historically, is not unexpected due to the frequent rotation of rookies and veterans through its pair of Honda-powered entries. Two-year Andretti Global driver Devlin DeFrancesco has been mentioned on a regular basis as someone who is likely to join the Illinois-based team, but the Italian-Canadian pilot was non-committal when asked about the matter.

“I’m leaving that to my managers,” DeFrancesco told RACER. “I’m definitely working to come back in ’25, full-swing, if ’24 does not happen. But I will definitely be back, one-million percent. It’s just a matter of when, not if.”

Along with DeFrancesco, former Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Jack Harvey, Indy NXT and Coyne-affiliated driver Danial Frost, former A.J. Foyt Racing driver Benjamin Pedersen, and others have been spoken of as potential options for Coyne to consider.

The grid won’t be set until the 26th and 27th entries have “To Be Determined” removed from their placeholders, so for now, here are the 25 new or returning team and driver combinations.

A.J. Foyt Racing

No. 14 Chevy, Santino Ferrucci

No. 41 Chevy, Sting Ray Robb (replacing Benjamin Pedersen, joining from Dale Coyne Racing)

Andretti Global

No. 26 Honda, Colton Herta

No. 27 Honda, Kyle Kirkwood

No. 28 Honda, Marcus Ericsson (replacing Romain Grosjean, joining from Chip Ganassi Racing)

Arrow McLaren

No. 5 Chevy, Pato O’Ward

No. 6 Chevy, David Malukas (replacing Felix Rosenqvist, joining from Dale Coyne Racing)

No. 7 Chevy, Alexander Rossi

Chip Ganassi Racing

No. 4 Honda, Kyffin Simpson (rookie, new entry)

No. 8 Honda, Linus Lundqvist (rookie, replacing Marcus Ericsson)

No. 9 Honda, Scott Dixon

No. 10 Honda, Alex Palou

No. 11 Honda, Marcus Armstrong

Dale Coyne Racing

TBD

TBD

Ed Carpenter Racing

No. 20 Chevy, Christian Rasmussen (rookie, road and street courses) and Ed Carpenter (ovals)

No. 21 Chevy, Rinus VeeKay

Juncos Hollinger Racing

No. 77 Chevy, Romain Grosjean (replacing Callum Ilott, joining from Andretti Global)

No. 78 Chevy, Agustin Canapino

Meyer Shank Racing

No. 60 Honda, Felix Rosenqvist (replacing Simon Pagenaud, joining from Arrow McLaren)

No. 66 Honda, Tom Blomqvist (rookie, replacing Helio Castroneves)

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

No. 15 Honda, Graham Rahal

No. 30 Honda, Pietro Fittipaldi (replacing Jack Harvey)

No. 45 Honda, Christian Lundgaard

Team Penske

No. 2 Chevy, Josef Newgarden

No. 3 Chevy, Scott McLaughlin

No. 12 Chevy, Will Power

JHR, RLL biggest winners of fierce Leaders Circle battle at Laguna

The battle to earn IndyCar’s final Leaders Circle contract played out in dramatic fashion as the last laps of the 2023 were completed in Monterey on Sunday. With guaranteed prize money contracts of $910,000 offered to the top 22 in IndyCar’s …

The battle to earn IndyCar’s final Leaders Circle contract played out in dramatic fashion as the last laps of the 2023 were completed in Monterey on Sunday.

With guaranteed prize money contracts of $910,000 offered to the top 22 in IndyCar’s entrants’ points, a few teams went into the season finale with added pressure to finish the contest on the right side of the cut line.

The big winners started with Juncos Hollinger Racing, with JHR’s Agustin Canapino hauling the No. 78 Chevy to 14th in the race and holding onto 21st in the entrants’ standings in the process. Leaving Portland in 21st, Canapino was in great shape for most of the Monterey race, but contact made with his teammate Callum Ilott, which broke his front wing, saw the No. 78 car drop quickly in the closing laps.

In the end, Canapino — who had Ilott’s race engineer Yves Touron assigned to his car over the final races to help in their Leaders Circle quest — was safe, but barely so.

The Argentinian completed his rookie year with 180 entrants’ points accrued for the No. 78, two points ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s No. 30 RLL Honda which clinched 22nd in the entrants’ championship over Andretti Autosport’s No. 29 Honda driven by Devlin DeFrancesco. By a single point.

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The last Leaders Circle contract was settled by dueling bouts of misfortune, and in the case of Andretti Autosport, rage and frustration. Credit the resilience of the RLL mechanics for repairing Vips’ car after he was taken out in a lap 1 crash, and thanks to their efforts, the rookie returned to finish 24th — 24 laps down at the checkered flag — which was just enough to close the No. 30’s season-long entrants’ account at 178 points.

DeFrancesco’s strong drive was, like most drivers in the race, marred by frequent contact. It was the likely result of an impact received at the back of his No. 29 Honda that turned his transmission into a sentient being and started a downward spiral. Shuddering and shifting at will, DeFrancesco’s pace was greatly compromised, and due to his significantly reduced lap speeds, IndyCar black flagged the No. 29 and ordered him to pit lane for his mechanics to try and find and resolve the problem.

While there, a fresh set of tires were installed in the No. 29 and DeFrancesco was sent back out to continue racing — with the shifting problem unresolved — which was not, according to an IndyCar official who spoke with RACER, what the series had in mind. Ordered to return to the pits, an IndyCar official stood in front of the No. 29 and prevented the situation from happening again.

As one onlooker described the situation, a senior Andretti team leader “went ballistic and aggressively motioned for DeFrancesco to go back out on track” while the official refused to move aside and allow the No. 29 to continue racing. Having left the first time without the series’ approval, the No. 29 was parked, finishing four laps down in 22nd place.

Juri Vips might have been erased from the overall picture on lap 1, but his No. 30 RLL team’s diligence – and bad luck for Andretti’s No. 29 – made it a rewarding afternoon all the same. Gavin Baker/Lumen

In the all-important entrants’ championship, the No. 29 earned 177 points to the 178 captured by RLL’s Hail Mary with Vips in the No. 30 entry, leaving Andretti’s car 23rd and the first car out of the $910,000 pay days.

And to spare any confusion, the final entrants’ standings show the aforementioned drivers in positions that are one spot lower, with the No. 78 in 22nd, the No. 30 in 23rd, and the No. 29 in 24th. Due to a Leaders Circle policy that only allows eligibility for the top three cars from each team, Chip Ganassi Racing’s fourth car — the No. 11 Honda, which placed 14th in the entrants’ championship — is ineligible, which moves all the cars behind it forward by one position.

A special clause was written into the Leaders Circle rules that allows Andretti’s fourth entry to be the only one in the series that is eligible for a contract if places inside the top 22, which makes its one-point loss to RLL’s No. 30 a double blow to the team…

DeFrancesco in demand for 2024 after Indy road course run

Devlin DeFrancesco is headed into the final races of his two-year contract with Andretti Autosport and finds himself in the enviable position of having four of the 10 full-time teams interested in adding him to their rosters. The Canadian-Italian …

Devlin DeFrancesco is headed into the final races of his two-year contract with Andretti Autosport and finds himself in the enviable position of having four of the 10 full-time teams interested in adding him to their rosters.

The Canadian-Italian will leave the No. 29 Andretti Steinbrenner Racing Honda behind next month, and if all goes according to plan, he’ll move across to a new home with names that range from Carpenter to Coyne to Foyt to Juncos. A starring performance at the recent IMS road course race, where he was Andretti’s top qualifier and charged from fifth to first on the opening lap, has done wonders for his value in the paddock, and with the strong commercial support that comes with the 23-year-old from Toronto in tow, DeFrancesco has emerged as a significant player on the free agent market.

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“Obviously, the last race was a big step forward,” DeFrancesco told RACER. “I’m looking forward to finishing the season in a strong way with Andretti Steinbrenner and letting my management team of Sean Jones, the Steinbrenner family, and Michael Maroney take care of the rest. I’m just trying to finish as best and as strong as I can and keep my head down.”

The good news for DeFrancesco is that he has several teams who are keen to have him their cars, but those teams are in talks with other drivers as well. Before a firm plan for the future can be made, a few signings will need to take place that will clear the path for DeFrancesco to sign a deal of his own. In the meantime, he’s focused on keeping the Brickyard momentum going and turning more heads on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

“I think we’ll have pretty good cars here and I think we can do a good job here,” he said. “We had quite a successful test here last week, and I like this oval in particular. So I’m really looking forward to this and nailing a good finish for myself and the 29 car crew.”

Gallagher GP qualifying report with Devlin DeFrancesco

RACER’s Marshall Pruett breaks down the unexpected results during qualifying for the second Indy GP and has fifth-place starter Devlin DeFrancesco join in to talk about his finest performance to date. Or click HERE to watch on YouTube. Presented by: …

RACER’s Marshall Pruett breaks down the unexpected results during qualifying for the second Indy GP and has fifth-place starter Devlin DeFrancesco join in to talk about his finest performance to date.

Or click HERE to watch on YouTube.

Presented by:
RACER’s IndyCar Trackside Report at the Gallagher Grand Prix is presented by Skip Barber Racing School. With multiple locations in the US, Skip Barber Racing School has developed more winning racers than any other school. Their alumni have taken the podium in all facets of motorsports including NASCAR, INDYCAR, SCCA, World Challenge and IMSA. Click to learn more.

DeFrancesco looking to build on ‘2.0 version of myself’ in IndyCar

Coming off a solid Mid-Ohio weekend where he ran ahead of Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean for significant portions of the race, Devlin DeFrancesco hopes to take that momentum and turn it into an ongoing opportunity for himself in the NTT …

Coming off a solid Mid-Ohio weekend where he ran ahead of Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean for significant portions of the race, Devlin DeFrancesco hopes to take that momentum and turn it into an ongoing opportunity for himself in the NTT IndyCar Series.

As the Italian-Canadian driver moves into the final months of his contract with the Andretti team, the 23-year-old will be busy chasing more quality finishes and a new home to continue his open-wheel journey after the championship concludes in Monterey.

DeFrancesco started with Andretti in 2020 on the USF Championships presented by Cooper Tires ladder and progressed from Indy Pro 2000 through Indy Lights to IndyCar with Steinbrenner Racing actively involved as a co-entrant.

Confirmation from the Andretti team on its postseason plans to switch DeFrancesco’s No. 29 Honda from a driver-funded entry to one that utilizes sponsors and a driver supplied by Andretti has DeFrancesco on a countdown to chart his next move and secure one of the various seats available elsewhere in the paddock.

“Andretti has been my home for the last four years, and Michael [Andretti], [team president] JF [Thormann], and [COO] Rob Edwards, they’ve all treated me really well,” DeFrancesco told RACER. “I’ve had some amazing support from the Steinbrenner family, Sean Jones; even Brian Herta has been a big supporter of mine. I’m a very lucky guy, I really am.”

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Andretti is not expected to have formal confirmation of who will take over the No. 29 car until later in the season. Most of the drivers headed into free agency have an August 1 threshold — or later — to cross before they are contractually permitted to begin negotiations with other teams, and with his impending availability known within the series, RACER is aware of at least three teams that have expressed an interest in DeFrancesco for 2024.

“I totally understand that it’s business, and there are some great teams who have reached out to us,” he said. “That’s not something I get involved with until the end of that process, so right now, I’m focused on IndyCar and I want to finish these next eight races on a high for sure.”

DeFrancesco eclipsed a number of luminaries, including teammate Grosjean, last time out at Mid-Ohio. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

DeFrancesco’s rookie IndyCar campaign was rocky at times, but he persevered and showed marked improvement towards the end of 2022. The upward trend has continued through the first half of his sophomore run in the series with stronger average qualifying positions (+2.22) and finishing positions (+1.78) in 2023.

“We were running in the top 10 at Mid-Ohio and Road America, and we had a strong showing at the Indy 500,” he said of his run to 13th. “I definitely see improvement in myself, and the 29 car works very well today. I love everybody on the 29 car — all my mechanics, my engineers, and had a great debut with [race strategist] Scott Horner on the stand last time. I am pumped for the ovals, too, that are coming up. It feels like I’m the ‘2.0’ version of myself and I’m building on that to become better each time I’m in the car.”