This is solely intended to be a helpful guide
to who's in what for this weekend's season opening IndyCar race at St
Petersburg, Florida. With the grid most likely fluctuating and doesn't include
Indianapolis 500 only participants and hence, is by NO means Official, and as
always, is subject to change.
there were three Rookies initially contesting
this year's championship when I began scribbling this; with reigning Indy
Lights champion Gabby Chaves making his debut with Brian Herta Autosports, in
the seat vacated by Jack Hawksworth. While the worst kept secret was 2013 Indy
Lights champion Sage Karam replacing Ryan Briscoe at Chip Ganassi's
"G2" Squad.
The third "rookie" is Luca Filippi,
who'll take over Mike "Ice-Ice, Baby!" Conway's empty seat at CFH
Racing for the "twisties" portion of the calendar, now that Conway's
decided to focus upon Sports Car racing as a Toyota Factory driver in the World
Endurance Championship. (WEC)
Then, there's the requisite Silly Season
shuffle, in NO particular order: Simon Pagenaud leaves Schmidt Peterson
Motorsports for the rarefied confines of Team Penske. With James Hinchcliffe
leaving Andretti Autosport to takeover Pagenaud's vacated seat.
Thus leaving No Fenders Numero Uno IndyCar
Pilote' Justin B-I-G' UNIT Wilson on the Outside looking In towards continuing
his career in Open Wheel Racing...
On March 9th, just 20-days prior to
"Kickoff!" KVRT announced that its vacant second seat, now the No. 4
would be piloted by GP2 winning driver
Stefano Coletti. Leaving just the two Dale Coyne entries plus one
Andretti seat available... Which all three were filled, As Andretti took on
crowd darling "Symona-Symona," leaving Justin Wilson out in the cold; SHIT!
While Dale Coyne,
who typically leaves his Driver announcements to the eleventh hour, announced
his two drivers on March 16th, signing Carlos Huertas for
a second year, and surprisingly Italy's
Francesco Dracone for the first four races...
Team/Car
No/Driver)
(1)
AJ Foyt Enterprises
Engine: Honda
Engine: Honda
14.
Takuma Sato; Japan
41.
Jack Hawksworth; UK
(2) Andretti Autosport
Engine: Honda
25. Simona de Silvestro; Switzerland
27. Marco Andretti; USA
27. Marco Andretti; USA
28.
Ryan Hunter-Reay; USA
Andretti/HVM Racing (+1)
(Hola
Viva Mexico)
Engine: Honda
34.
Carlos Munoz; Columbia
(3)
Bryan Herta Autosport
Engine: Honda
98.
R-Gabby Chaves; Columbia
(4) Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing
Engine: Chevrolet
20. Ed
Carpenter; USA (Ovals Only)
20. R-Luca Filippi; Italy
(Road/Street Courses)
67.
Joseph Newgarden; USA
(5)
Dale Coyne Racing
Engine: Honda
Engine: Honda
18. Carlos Huertas, Columbia
19. R- Francesco Dracone,
Italy
(6) KV Racing Technology
Engine: Chevrolet
4.
R-Stefano Coletti; Monaco
KVSH Racing (+1)
Engine: Chevrolet
11.
Sebastian Bourdais; France
(7)
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Engine: Honda
15.
Graham Rahal; USA
(8)
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
Engine: Honda
Engine: Honda
5.
James Hinchcliffe; Canada
7. James
Jakes; UK
(9)
Target Chip Ganassi Racing
Engine: Chevrolet
Engine: Chevrolet
9.
Scott Dixon; New Zealand
10. Tony Kanaan; Brazil
10. Tony Kanaan; Brazil
‘G2 – Chip Ganassi Racing (+2)
Engine: Chevrolet
8. R-Sage Karam; USA
83.
Charlie Kimball; USA
(10)
Team Penske
Engine: Chevrolet
#1.
Will Power; Australia
2. Juan Pablo Montoya; Columbia
2. Juan Pablo Montoya; Columbia
3.
Helio Castroneves; Brazil
22.
Simon Pagenaud; France
(R Denotes Rookie Driver)