The NTT IndyCar Series’ 16-race 2021 season netted a new, young champion in sophomore Alex Palou, brought about many screams to send 21-year-old Colton Herta off to Formula One, revealed that Helio Castroneves can win his fourth Indianapolis 500 without assistance from Team Penske and that, even though he’s ancient by comparison to many of his peers, Scott Dixon continues to be competitive in most every race he enters. This year’s rookie class had more experience than most of the balance of the grid and musical chairs are ongoing.
A rightful campeón
Alex Palou’s first year in the NTT IndyCar Series was spent with Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, Team Goh having supported the Spaniard before he arrived in the United States, in Japan’s Super GT series. For everyone in racing, 2020 was a tough one, especially for a driver learning the series, the cars, the tracks, the competition. Palou was fortunate to hook up with Coyne’s outfit, as Dale Coyne is known for educating his drivers well – and eventually sending many of them on to other more expansive teams. Palou did earn three top 10 results in his first year, but struggled, as expected, with ovals and, occasionally on the road courses.
Still, Chip Ganassi saw something in Palou – and with former driver Roger Yasukawa managing the sophomore – he promptly won on his first time driving the No. 10 for Chip Ganassi Racing, at the Barber Motorsports Park 2021 season starter. Granted, Palou has the engineering talents of Julian Robertson, a superb strategist in Barry Wanser, the respected crew chief Ricky Davis and a coach who formerly drove the No. 10 to three of his four championships and two of three Indianapolis 500 victories: Dario Franchitti. Palou took two other victories in 2021: at Road America (where he finished third in 2020) and at Portland, an old school road course.
In 2021, Palou finished out of the top 10 only four times – St Petersburg, Detroit 1, at the second Indianapolis road course visit for the Indy cars and at Gateway. The balance of his year was spent conspicuously at the sharp end of the grid. Probably the only issue Palou had was with his engines, as he suffered a pair of failures and had to go beyond the proscribed four engines per season. He received penalties. They really didn’t stop him, did they?
Alex Palou is the type of driver INDYCAR needs in its premier series. He drives smart, clean and listens to his advisors. He understands the meaning of teamwork. While he’s no superstar on the ovals – yet – it would be surprising if he doesn’t develop a love for ovals – in particular the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s historic four-cornered masterpiece, as the seasons roll on. Look how long it took Will Power to become an oval maestro? He loves them now. Palou will, too.
These guys are rookies???
This season’s rookie class was anything but rookies, except that none of this trio had raced a full INDYCAR season prior to joining the 2021 campaign. Eventual Rookie of the Year winner Scott McLaughlin, 28, already has 56 victories to his credit, but none in an open-wheel racing car. The Kiwi had three consecutive Australian Supercars Championship titles to his merit 2018-2020, before his first INDYCAR foray at the 2020 season closer in St. Petersburg, Fla. with Team Penske. He’ll be formidable in a second full season and is champing at the bit to win the Indianapolis 500.
His closest competitor, Romain Grosjean is a graduate of Formula One, now and forevermore known as The Phoenix for rising from the flame and horror of last year’s massive crash at Bahrain, while driving for Gene Haas’ F1 team. Grosjean captured a single pole in his first year racing in the United States for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR and, once again, Uncle Dale has graduated a driver from his “finishing school” to Andretti Autosport, where the Swiss-born Frenchman will occupy the No. 28 DHL Honda. Grosjean is slated for his Indianapolis Motor Speedway indoctrination this week, on October 6th, together with fellow 2021 “rookie” Jimmie Johnson.
When the 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champ elected to, essentially, forget everything he knew about racing over the past several decades and join the INDYCAR wars. and to do so at the advanced age of 45 (he turned 46 on September 17th), many thought the transition would be seamless. Think again, oh ye sofa seers! Everything JJ understood about racing was different from what he needed to know. Yes, he had great teachers at Chip Ganassi Racing, but until Scott Pruett came along, JJ was rudderless. Having access to someone who’s been in INDYCAR, gone to NASCAR, returned to INDYCAR was the final piece of the puzzle. Johnson’s improvement over the season owes to Pruett’s tutelage.
Coming and going
Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner and 2004 IRL champion who finished every single lap of every single race in his title season, raced only ovals in 2021 as Jimmie Johnson elected to do road/street courses only. He also kept his hand in with stock car races in his native Brazil. If Johnson does decide, having completed his ROP test this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that he’ll contest the ovals, too, next year, that leaves TK out in the cold.
Now a two-time Indy 500 winner, Takuma Sato has been jettisoned from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. True, he didn’t do much in 2021, but had some crap luck and got caught up in others’ issues on occasion. Sato brings Honda Japan yen and dollars to any team that will pick him up, but the number of seats available at this point is low and lower.
When Simon Pagenaud became a Team Penske Chevrolet driver, after working with Sam Schmidt Motorsports and later Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports in INDYCAR for several years, it was a blow to Honda, which had enjoyed the Frenchman’s prowess in sorting cars, something he did in both single seaters and sports cars, helping Honda Performance Development on both sides of the racing alley. They did get him back, so to speak, when Team Penske entered IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as Pagenaud was available for the endurance contests.
Now Pagenaud returns to Honda with Meyer Shank Racing as a companion to Helio Castroneves, on what is now a Team Penske grad school. He’ll be in the No. 60 while Castroneves keeps the No. 06 Honda-powered Dallara. Certainly this Frenchman and Brazilian work well together, and with the development capabilities of Pagenaud at their disposal, MSR looks ready to win more races than the 105th Indianapolis 500, accomplished by Castroneves – for his fourth Indy 500 victory – this year.
With all seats held at Meyer Shank Racing, Briton Jack Harvey’s assumption of the No. 45 HyVee Honda-powered Dallara at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was finally confirmed. Harvey’s five years with MSR netted some great qualifying results and podiums, but it was Castroneves who gave the team its first INDYCAR victory at Indy last May. Harvey wanted new pastures to explore and RLLR was ready to adopt a new full-time teammate for Graham Rahal. There will be a third car, the team said, but Rahal and Harvey are now the prime drivers for their 2022 (and beyond) campaigns.
Shortly after his new ride for 2022, racing the No. 28 DHL Honda for Andretti Autosport, together with current engineer Olivier Boisson, was announced at Long Beach, Romain Grosjean, the Frenchman known as The Phoenix (it’s really a shame this series doesn’t race in Phoenix next year – that would have been great for the headline writers) took his rookie test along with Jimmie Johnson at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The day-long endeavor was doused with wet weather but both drivers managed to nearly finish their work on that single day, which allows them to practice with the rest of the field when May arrives. When the downpour arrived, both Grosjean and Johnson were a few laps shy of their final phase’s completion but they’ll get it done at the Open Test. Grosjean raced at World Wide Technology Raceway in August, his first oval contest, but still has to complete his remaining laps during the test on April 20-21, 2022. As for Johnson, he hasn’t yet committed to ovals for 2022, but easy bets are that he will.
There is likely more news coming from 16th Street in Speedway, IN, especially since the NTT IndyCar Series has its initial 2022 contest much earlier next year – in February at St. Petersburg. Still unknown are the drivers for A.J. Foyt’s Chevrolet team now that Sebastien Bourdais has gone to IMSA and, of course, Dale Coyne Racing’s plans. Whether Coyne realigns with former INDYCAR champ Jimmy Vasser and James “Sulli” Sullivan, and how the second car is run, still is up in the air. Dale Coyne has been known for announcing his teams shortly before the first practice on Friday many years; it’s doubtful that will happen again.
Team Penske will be back to three cars for Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin – at this point – and fellow Chevrolet team Ed Carpenter Racing, like A.J. Foyt Racing, has not yet made its plans known. It’s highly likely race winner Rinus VeeKay will remain the full-time driver of the No. 21, but whether team owner Ed Carpenter will run ovals and allow another driver – like this year’s standout Conor Daly – to run the road courses, is still unknown. Daly did a good job for the team and his consistency there would be advantageous for the team and its driver.
Arrow McLaren SP continues with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, while Ganassi soldiers on with his four-car squad of Dixon, Palou, Marcus Ericsson and Johnson, with a possible oval driver nominated? Andretti Autosport has Herta re-signed, Alexander Rossi and Grosjean. What happens with James Hinchcliffe is also unknown, as is the fate of the No. 59 Chevy, Carlin Racing and driver Max Chilton.
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