Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The 28 is the 1 and Sato v. Daly

Andretti Autosport Unveiling, Hunter-Reay to Drive the #1
Andretti Autosport rolled out their 2013 driver line-ups for the Izod IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights and Star Mazda. Ryan Hunter-Reay will run the the #1 DHL Chevrolet after winning the 2012 IndyCar Championship. DHL has signed a multiyear agreement with Andretti Autosport. The #1 on Hunter-Reay's car will feature a smaller #28 within the #1, similar to two-time MotoGP champion Casey Stoner who included his #27 in the #1 after his championship wins. The #28 is symbolic to Hunter-Reay as it represents the 28 million people worldwide battling cancer. Hunter-Reay lost his mother to colon cancer in November 2009.

Marco Andretti will run the #25 RC Cola Chevrolet, a change from the #26 which Andretti has used since entering IndyCar in 2006. Before Andretti, Dan Wheldon raced the #26 to an IndyCar championship and Indianapolis 500 victory in 2005. James Hinchcliffe will return in the #27 GoDaddy Chevrolet.

In Indy Lights Carlos Muñoz returns to the team for a second season, joined by American Zach Veach. Muñoz won two races in 2012 (Edmonton and Fontana) and won pole at Edmonton. He finished 5th in the overall points standings. Veach had two podiums, ten top-tens and finished tenth in the 2012 Star Mazda points standings. Veach's Star Mazda teammate Sage Karam finished third in Star Mazda last year, winning three races, ten podiums and thirteen top-tens but will only be 17 years old.

Shelby Blackstock will be promoted to Star Mazda in 2013 after one season in U.S. F2000. He finished eighth in points with two top-fives and ten top-tens. A second Star Mazda seat is still to be announced. A stated above, Sage Karam raced for Andretti in Star Mazda last year. The teams U.S. F2000 drivers are also to be announced at a later date.

Sato v. Daly
Takuma Sato and Conor Daly appear to be fighting it out for the Foyt Enterprises IndyCar seat in 2013.  Sato and the Texas based team are reportedly close to a deal but nothing has been confirmed. Sato raced lasted year for Honda powered Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing. Daly will test for Foyt on December 13th at Sebring. Larry Foyt talked to Daly at the United States Grand Prix in Austin this past November and said about the test, "depending on how it goes, we may be able to do something with him in the future." Daly won the 2010 Star Mazda Championship and ran five Indy Lights races in 2011, winning at Long Beach but has spent most of the past two season in the GP3 Series and is currently competing in the MRF Challenge in India.

Wade Cunningham, who drove for Foyt at Indianapolis and Fontana last season, is also a potential driver for the team in 2013. The team has already confirmed Chase Austin will attempt to qualify the #41 Honda for the 2013 Indianapolis 500.