Juri Vips has been retained by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Despite losing out on the third full-time RLL NTT IndyCar Series seat that went to Pietro Fittipaldi, team co-owner Bobby Rahal says the Estonian will factor in the program’s future, which could include outings in a fourth Honda-powered RLL entry.
“We see Juri as a long-term play,” Rahal said. “We’d like to run a fourth car. We’re not making as much progress on that as we would like, but that’s certainly a hope. And maybe it’s only a select number of races. Maybe it’s only one, maybe it’s none, we’re not quite sure. But one thing we did know is we wanted to keep Juri in our family.”
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Vips was impressive during his two-race outing with RLL to close the 2023 season, as he presented an immediate challenge to Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal with the No. 30 Honda.
At the championship finale at Laguna Seca, the 23-year-old was fourth overall during the Thursday test and two spots behind Lundgaard in his first-ever visit to the track, led the team in Friday’s opening practice, was second among the RLL drivers in qualifying, and got a great start that lasted two corners before he was taken out in an opening-lap crash that included Rahal.
After repairs were made, Vips returned to the race, and despite finishing 24 laps down to eventual winner Scott Dixon, his efforts allowed RLL to secure the final Leaders Circle contract worth $915,000 for the No. 30 entry he’ll race in 2024.
Vips’ opportunity to remain with RLL could see him assisting in hybrid testing for the team, and while he doesn’t have a calendar of races to look forward to at the moment, Rahal has been actively searching for IMSA teams in the LMP2 class that might have an interest.
“I have to say that he did everything that we asked him to do,” Rahal said. “I think he showed that he certainly is capable running up front in an IndyCar race. He’s a good young man. I’ve gotten to know Juri since he’s been with us and that’s why we wanted to make sure we kept him. Because we do want to run a fourth car if at all possible, but in the meantime, if we can help him get something when we’re not busy with him, why not?
“I introduced him to a few of the P2 guys at Road Atlanta, just doing what we can to help him. But clearly, we want to keep him because he’s a very, very good racecar driver, and he’ll still perform work for us. When you look at the new category with the hybrid, Juri, Christian and Pietro have a lot of time in simulators and what have you, learning, understanding this new world, and I think that’s going to really help us get up to speed as a team that much more much more quickly, just because we have that kind of previous experience. I think we got four chargers that can help take this team forward.”