The 24 Hours of Daytona is complete and with the end of that race comes the end of the first month of 2022. January might not be the liveliest month in terms of motorsports action, but there are a few notable events to keep us going. It is a proper warm-up for the year.
Getting My Head Around This Year
We are one month into 2022, but this year is going to be different. A lot has changed and we haven't even got to any of it. January has been a typical January. Dakar, Supercross, the 24 Hours of Daytona. That is how it is supposed to be, but the changes will occur as a steady stream over the next 11 months.
With some time before we must face the new, let's prepare.
Schedule Changes
IndyCar in February?
Saudi Arabia in March?
Australia in April?
NASCAR on Easter Sunday?
That is just the highlights of first third of the year.
IndyCar will have its earliest start since 2004 with St. Petersburg opening the season on February 27. That is a few weeks earlier than usual and then its usual season opening spot, in mid-March, will be at Texas, which is in its second new month in as many years.
After that, IndyCar's schedule will be rather routine. Long Beach will be April 10. Barber will be May 1, but that is partially because of when Easter falls. From there, the season is the same, two Indianapolis races in May, Belle Isle, albeit only one race, Road America, Mid-Ohio, and hopefully Toronto in July.
We know about NASCAR's big change with the Clash taking place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but that schedule is a little different. Austin will be in late-March after being in May for year one. The Bristol dirt race will take place on the night of Easter Sunday, a massive change for NASCAR, as it has usually avoided the holiday, but now it is hoping to ingrain itself with the holiday as other sports have with other holidays.
NASCAR will add a new track, Gateway on the first Sunday in June, Richmond's second race will move from September to August and become a night race. Big shifts come in NASCAR's playoffs. Kansas moves from the middle race of the semifinal round to the middle race of round one. Texas moves from the opening race of the semifinal round to the opening race of the second round. Las Vegas moves from the opening race of round two to the opening race of the semifinal round. Homestead returns to the playoffs after two years out of it and it will be the middle race of the semifinal round.
Some calendar changes are because of good reasons, a world returning to normal, but even that is not guaranteed. We need to see how the world turns over the next few days, weeks and months.
In Formula One, Saudi Arabia shifts from the penultimate round to the second round of the season, hopefully ahead of Australia. May leads off with the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, in-between the European rounds of Imola, Barcelona and Monaco.
Montreal is on the schedule for its mid-June date while Singapore and Suzuka are lined up in October.
We may get a Super Sebring weekend, as the FIA World Endurance Championship plans to open the season on a Friday afternoon into night. Spa-Francorchamps in May and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June are slated to take place. It will be a relaxing schedule in a way. A month after Le Mans is Monza, two months after Monza is Fuji, and two months after Fuji is Bahrain. Six races in eight months, not a bad gig.
On two wheels, MotoGP plans on spending a weekend in Indonesia in March. It will still have a healthy European backbone, which could see the return to Finland, third time being the charm after two false starts. The Asian-Pacific swing is still on the schedule, a back-to-back with Japan and Thailand with another Australia-Malaysia back-to-back after that.
Team Changes
Drivers have moved around ahead of 2022.
Meyer Shank Racing has new drivers all over the place. Simon Pagenaud and Hélio Castroneves are in the team's IndyCar while Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist will be in the Acura sports car in IMSA.
Jack Harvey has moved to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Takuma Sato moved to Dale Coyne Racing. Romain Grosjean moved to Andretti Autosport. Penske is down to three cars. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is up to three cars. A.J. Foyt Racing is up to three cars. Conor Daly will be full-time at Ed Carpenter Racing. Ed Carpenter might be down to one race.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Sébastien Bourdais, Max Chilton and Ed Jones are about to be out of the IndyCar fold.
Bourdais is now a Ganassi driver in IMSA with Renger van der Zande. Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn are in the other Ganassi entry.
Brad Keselowski now owns part of a team, Roush Fenway Racing to be specifically. Kurt Busch is driving for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. A Burton is driving for the Wood Brothers. A Cindric is driving for Team Penske. Richard Petty is no longer owning cars... I guess... I don't think, people keep purchasing teams Petty "owns" and then keeping his name on the door.
Valentino Rossi and Kimi Räikkönen are no longer in their respective series.
George Russell is moving to Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas moves to Alfa Romeo, where his teammate will be Formula One's first Chinese driver, Guanyu Zhou. Alexander Albon fills at Williams in place of Russell. Come to think of it, the only two drivers from the 2021 Formula One grid not on the 2022 grid are the Alfa Romeo drivers, as Antonio Giovinazzi has moved to Formula E.
Andrea Dovizioso will be on a Yamaha. The top two from Moto2 will be Tech3 KTM teammates with Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández trying to get along. Valentino Rossi's team will be on grid with his half-brother Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi each on their own Ducati. Darryn Binder joins Brad Binder in MotoGP.
New Cars
NASCAR and Formula One each have experienced regulation changes and we will have new cars! With new cars come the unknown.
We have no clue who will be good. Mercedes and Red Bull could each suck. Williams could be winning races. Haas could be on the podium. There could be nine different race winners.
In NASCAR, anybody could win races. There could be 20 winners in the first 26 races. Kaulig Racing could be nine races and Hendrick Motorsports could only have two victories. Joe Gibbs Racing could go winless while Spire Motorsports could have six victories. Trackhouse might get both its drivers in the playoffs while Team Penske only has one driver make it.
That is hard to imagine all of that happening, but we aren't sure. These aren't the old cars with dedicated fabricators from each team welding together chassis and strengthening the car. The chassis and the parts are coming from one source. Everyone is virtually getting the same thing.
Speaking of new cars, Peugeot is returning to the FIA World Endurance Championship. The French manufacture will miss the season opener at Sebring, but it plans on having two Peugeot 9X8s on the grid. Not a new car, but Corvette will have a full-time WEC entry for its C8.R as IMSA has moved away from the GTE-spec GT Le Mans class. Team Penske will also be on the WEC grid in LMP2, as it prepares for the Porsche LMDh contender.
Late Night Races
With the pandemic, there have been fewer international races, especially in the Asian-Pacific area. Formula One hasn't had a Pacific round since October 13, 2019. MotoGP hasn't been to the Pacific since Australia on October 27, 2019. WEC hasn't left Europe or Bahrain since February 23, 2020.
While it is sad not to have races at Albert Park, Suzuka, Philip Island, Fuji, Buriram, Singapore, Sepang and so on, it has been easier on the body and the sleep schedule. There have been no late nights or early start times.
That will change and it will take some adjusting. I am not sure I can do it. After conditioning myself for the races for all these years, two years off might have broken me. I am not sure I can force myself to get up after a three-hour or four-hour nap for a race at 2:00 a.m. ET. I might become reliant on the recording and watch it when I first get up but have to avoid spoilers. I am unsure what my life as become and will only find out when we get there.
February Preview
Leading off the month of February will be the first Race of Champions in three years. The 2022 edition will be held in Pitea Havsbad, Sweden on an ice course. This is the first Race of Champions held on ice and the first Race of Champions in Europe since 2015.
There are still a few open spots, but we know 19 drivers that have been announced for this year's edition. How does this year's field shape up?
Germany
Best Nations' Cup Result: 1st (2007-12, 2017-18)
Drivers:
Sebastian Vettel:
Best Nations' Cup Result: 1st (2007-12, 2017-18)
Drivers:
Sebastian Vettel:
Tenth appearance
Seven Nations' Cup championships
2015 Champion of Champions
Mick Schumacher:
Second appearance
2019 Nations' Cup Runner-Up
Quarterfinalist in the Champion of Champions (lost to Esteban Gutiérrez).
Finland
Best Nations' Cup Result: 1st (1999, 2006)
Drivers:
Valtteri Bottas:
Drivers:
Valtteri Bottas:
First Appearance
This is the first Race of Champions with a Finnish driver since 2011 when Juho Hänninen competed for the Nordic team with Tom Kristensen. Nordic lost in the finals to the German pair of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. Hänninen was third in his group for Champion of Champions behind Schumacher and Jenson Button.
Mika Häkkinen:
First Appearance
This is the first Race of Champions with a dedicated Finnish team since Beijing 2009 when Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen competed.
Finland has produced the most Champion of Champions winners (Five: Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen, Harri Rovanperä, Marcus Grönholm, Heikki Kovalainen).
Team Latin America
Best Nations' Cup Result: 2nd (2018)
Drivers:
Hélio Castroneves:
Drivers:
Hélio Castroneves:
Fourth Appearance
2018 Nations' Cup Runner-Up
Only one quarterfinal appearance in the Champion of Champions competition (Miami 2017)
Benito Guerra, Jr.:
Third Appearance
2019 Champion of Champions
Guerra, Jr. has not made it out of the group stage in the Nations' Cup in his previous two appearances.
United States of America
Best Nations' Cup Result: 1st (2002)
Drivers:
Jimmie Johnson:
Fourth Appearance (first since 2007)
Drivers:
Jimmie Johnson:
Fourth Appearance (first since 2007)
2002 Nations' Cup champion (with Colin Edwards and Jeff Gordon)
Johnson has never made it out of the first round of the Champion of Champions competition. He has never participated under a group format, only single-elimination bracket format.
Colton Herta:
First Appearance
Herta replaces Travis Pastrana, who was injured in a stunt driving accident last week.
France
Best Nations' Cup Result: 1st (2000, 2004)
Drivers:
Sébastien Loeb:
Drivers:
Sébastien Loeb:
Ninth Appearance
Three-time Champion of Champions (2003, 2005, 2008)
2004 Nations' Cup champion (with Jean Alesi)
Nordic
Best Nations' Cup Result: 1st (2005, 2014, 2019)
Drivers:
Johan Kristoffersson:
Drivers:
Johan Kristoffersson:
Third Appearance
2019 Nations' Cup champion (with Tom Kristensen)
2018 Champion of Champions semifinalist and 2019 Champion of Champions quarterfinalist.
Tom Kristensen:
Record-extending 16th Appearance
Three-time Nations' Cup champion (2005 with Mattias Ekström as Scandinavia, 2014 with Petter Solberg, 2019 with Kristoffersson)
Five-time Champion of Champions runner-up (2005, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, most runner-up finishes)
Norway
Best Nations' Cup Result: Semifinals (2007)*
Drivers:
Petter Solberg:
Drivers:
Petter Solberg:
Sixth Appearance
2014 Nations' Cup champion (with Tom Kristensen for Nordic)
2018 Champion of Champions runner-up
Oliver Solberg:
First Appearance
Son of Petter Solberg
Competes under the Swedish flag, his mother's nationality, in World Rally Championship competition
Sweden
Best Nations' Cup Result: Semifinals (2003)*
Drivers:
Timmy Hansen:
Drivers:
Timmy Hansen:
First Appearance
2019 FIA World Rallycross champion
Mattias Ekström:
Seventh Appearance
Three-time Champion of Champions (2006-07, 2009)
2005 Nations' Cup champion (with Tom Kristensen for Scandinavia)*
United Kingdom
Best Nations' Cup Result: 2nd (2009-10, 2014)*
Drivers:
David Coulthard:
Drivers:
David Coulthard:
13th Appearance
Two-time Champion of Champions (2014, 2018)
2014 Nations' Cup runner-up (with Susie Wolff)
Jamie Chadwick:
First Appearance
Two-time W Series champion. 2015 British GT4 champion.
* - England won in 2015 with Jason Plato and Andy Priaulx
Other events next month:
NASCAR has a race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Daytona 500.
IndyCar begins its season at St. Petersburg.
Plenty of Supercross races.
The entire Asian Le Mans Series season will take place over two weekends in the United Arab Emirates.
Rally Sweden returns to the World Rally Championship schedule.
Formula E returns to Mexico City.
