Photo: Travis Hinkle

Indy Nxt champion Dennis Hauger has secured a place on the IndyCar grid for 2026, landing a full-time seat with Dale Coyne Racing.

Hauger joins the team as it strikes a technical alliance with Andretti Global, who he raced for in Indy Nxt and was already understood to be maintaining a connection to for next year.

The 22-year-old Norwegian’s step up to IndyCar has been in part funded by the $850,000 (£628,875) he received as prize for winning the Indy Nxt title. That will be spent on a rookie oval test, the Indianapolis 500 open test and rookie orientation programme, his entry into the Indy 500 and one other race. His first IndyCar test will be at Mid-Ohio, a road course.

“I’m excited to be joining Dale Coyne Racing for my rookie IndyCar season,” said Hauger.

“The progress the team has shown this year is really impressive, and it’s an honor to take my place on the grid with them in 2026. I want to thank Dale Coyne and everyone at the team for putting their trust in me.

“It’ll also be nice to see some familiar faces through the team’s technical partnership with Andretti Global. They’ve been a big part of my success since making the switch, so having their involvement in another rookie season for me will be great. I’m looking forward to contributing and starting this next chapter together.”

Hauger’s sole Indy Nxt campaign featured six victories, five other podiums and seven poles, and came after three years in Formula 2. He won five races, took eight other podiums and two poles in there and ended his 2024 season early to focus on preparing for the sideways move to Indy Nxt.

On his way up the single-seater ladder he won the Italian Formula 4 title, was ADAC F4 runner-up and FIA Formula 3 champion. Hauger was a Red Bull junior from 2017 to 2023, and tested with Porsche in Formula E last year.

“This is a great opportunity for us here at DCR to bring on a talented driver and gain a strong technical partner in Andretti Global,” DCR team owner Dale Coyne said. “Thanks to Dan [Towriss, Andretti Global team partner] and his belief in our sport and his dedication to elevating Dennis to the top of the ladder.”

The post Dennis Hauger lands 2026 IndyCar seat with Dale Coyne Racing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Karl Zemlin

Indy Nxt runner-up Jacob Abel has secured a full-time graduation to IndyCar for 2025 with Dale Coyne Racing.

Contesting his third full season in the series with his family’s Abel Motorsports team, the 23-year-old from Louisville in Kentucky was the closest rival to the dominant Indy Nxt champion Louis Foster in 2024, winning three races to Foster’s eight.

Foster’s graduation to IndyCar had already been confirmed last October with a multi-year deal at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Abel started his single-seater career in 2017 in United States Formula 4, and during 2018 switched focus to what would later become Formula Regional Americas, finishing fourth in the standings in both 2018 and 2019 and fifth in 2020. He also raced sporadically in Indy Pro 2000 on the IndyCar support ladder, before finishing sixth in a full championship campaign there in 2021.

Three seasons in Indy Nxt followed, improving from eighth in 2022 to fifth in 2023 before his run to second place last year.

Abel took part in his first IndyCar test with Dale Coyne Racing at Sebring in November 2023, then again last year before a subsequent oval run at Texas with Chip Ganassi Racing. He will take over DCR’s #51 entry which was filled by six different drivers during 2024, including Nolan Siegel, Luca Ghiotto and Toby Sowery. The team still has a vacancy in its other car.

“It’s a lifelong dream come true… I can’t thank everyone who’s helped out along the way enough,” said Abel. “I’ve had a great relationship with Dale for the last couple of years, and I’m very thankful for the confidence he has in me. The team has some very experienced personnel joining and returning to the program, and I have full confidence they will deliver a great race car and help me learn the ropes of the IndyCar Series. It’s going to be a fun but challenging journey, and I can’t wait to get started.”

While Abel Motorsports has competed itself in IndyCar previously, contesting the 2023 Indianapolis 500 with RC Enerson, it does not appear to be involved with DCR at this stage. The team will continue to race in Indy Nxt this year, already announcing Callum Hedge and Jordan Missig as drivers.

The post Jacob Abel secures full-time IndyCar ride with Dale Coyne Racing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Joe Skibinski

Every year, some of junior single-seaters’ top drivers are handed professional opportunities. Some lead to long-term careers in sportscars, while others try out the more cut-throat world of F1 and IndyCar

In addition to annually ranking the top 50 drivers in junior single-seater racing since 2011, Formula Scout also recognises the achievements of the very best of those who ‘graduate’ into the world of professional racing each year.

There were three Formula 2 race-winners who debuted in F1 this season, and while two of them quickly became de facto stars of the grid they are not eligible for this list since their primary programme was F2. Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman contested three grands prix and scored seven points, earning himself a full-time seat with Haas next year, and Williams handed its junior Franco Colapinto a surprise F1 promotion mid-season and he scored five points from nine races.

Bearman competed in all F2 rounds that didn’t clash with his F1 duties but struggled to 12th in the standings (his three wins countered by engine issues and a lack of pace elsewhere), and Colapinto dropped out of F2 once he became an F1 driver. Despite missing four rounds he still came ninth in the points. There are rumours he could appear in F1 again in 2025, despite no seats being free, but returning to F2 is also an option having contributed to an explosion in Argentine sponsors in racing.

Jack Doohan, third in F2 in 2023, made his F1 debut with Alpine in the season finale ahead of racing full-time there in 2025.

Taylor Barnard also won in F2 before dumping it once McLaren signed him to its Formula E team, but he did 20 races in the former and only four in the latter this year. He began the 2024-25 season this month by making the Sao Paulo E-Prix podium.

Another ineligible name is Esteban Masson, who won the Formula Regional-based Eurocup-3 championship last year but through his sponsors and the backing of Toyota ended up in GT sportscars for 2024. He drove a Lexus in the FIA Endurance Trophy for GT3 cars, and in the European Le Mans Series claimed two class wins and came second in the standings.

Photo: Antoine Evora

However Toyota is sending him back to single-seaters next year, and in Japan’s third-tier Super Formula Lights series.

There were 15 drivers who could have made Formula Scout’s Class of 2023, but didn’t perform strongly enough – or in a series with not enough high-quality opposition to be compared against – to make the cut.

Cayman Islander Kyffin Simpson was FRegional Americas champion in 2021, then became a development driver for IndyCar powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing. Before that he was in Honda Performance Development’s GT3 academy programme, which could have led to a professional single-seater drive when he was just 17 as his FRegional title earned him a scholarship from HDP (which he turned down) to step up to Super Formula.

He took the more sensible option of building his experience in Indy Nxt, and despite failing to win in his two seasons there got a IndyCar seat for 2024. Not only that, but a full-time ride with Ganassi. And was signed after a single test day in the car.

At the time, Simpson said “I don’t really have any expectations set for myself”, but he had a race-winning car at his disposal and two title-winning team-mates to learn from as a rookie. Externally, there were expectations being set that few anticipated he would meet. But then the 19-year-old finished 12th on his debut with the second fastest lap.

That ended up being Simpson’s best race result, and he only qualified in the top 20 three times en route to 21st in the points.

Over in Super Formula there was another questionable signing, as TGM Grand Prix put 18-year-old Juju Noda in one of its cars. The Euroformula race-winner had primarily spent the previous two years in club series for third-tier single-seaters, so had a lot to learn about higher levels of downforce and racecraft. While becoming the third ever woman to race in SF during its time as a top-tier single-seater series is impressive, she qualified more than two seconds off the pace everywhere and only late safety car periods prevented her from finishing more than a minute behind the winner in every race.

Photo: Super Formula

Performing stronger in their rookie campaigns were Iori Kimura (B-MAX Racing) and Hibiki Taira (Team Impul), who were the top two in Super Formula Lights last year. The former scored three points, and the latter took two as a part-timer as well as coming third in Super GT’s secondary GT300 class with INGING. He took a win and three second places there.

Stepping up to FE after four years and four wins in F2 was Jehan Daruvala. The Indian drove for Maserati and came 21st in the standings, starting three races in the top 10, taking the fastest lap in the Monaco E-Prix and finishing a career-best seventh in one of Berlin’s races. It was not enough to retain his seat for 2025.

Most junior single-seater graduates ended up racing prototype sportscars this year, but one made it into the top Hypercar class. Carl Bennett, a Formula 4 race-winner with Eurocup-3 experience, joined Isotta Fraschini in the World Endurance Championship but the brand only lasted five races before dropping out and in that time a 14th place was the best result.

In the lower-level LMP2 machinery he came 10th in the Asian Le Mans Series and 20th in ELMS, concluding both campaigns with podium finishes.

Gregoire Saucy, a podium finisher in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, drove a United Autosport-run McLaren to ninth in WEC’s GT3 class (doing enough to retain his seat for a second season and earn an FE test with McLaren through mutual team boss Zak Brown), and in ELMS led a LMP2 Pro-Am entry to two overall seventh places as a reliably fast driver.

ELMS was full of former open-wheel talents, with F2 race-winner Clement Novalak (Inter Europol Competition), 2023 F2 runner-up Frederik Vesti (Cool Racing) and 2022 champion Felipe Drugovich (Vector Sport) coming seventh, ninth and 15th in the standings respectively. Novalak was also LMP2 runner-up in the Le Mans 24 Hours, while the latter two served as F1 reserve drivers at Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG respectively. Vesti will race a Cadillac hypercar in IMSA next year.

Photo: ELMS

USF Pro 2000 race-winner Bijoy Garg came 11th overall for United Autosports in ELMS and 19th in IMSA’s LMP2 class with one podium, and Indy Nxt podium-finisher Rasmus Lindh appeared part-time in IMSA and ELMS in various cars.

One-time FRegional Europe podium-finisher Maceo Capietto won in ELMS at Mugello, with a place close to his FIA Platinum-graded team-mate Matteo Cairoli and was the fastest LMP2 rookie at Le Mans, but that pace wasn’t on show everywhere.

The F1-supporting Porshce Supercup attracted a surprisingly high number of sportscar newcomers in 2024. Former F2 racer Lirim Zendeli made a second attempt at redirecting his career, after his detour into USFP2000 last year only resulted in one win, and was 12th in the Supercup standings as well as coming fourth in Porsche Carrera Cup Italy with two poles with Ombra Racing. Monaco Increase Management was responsible for Zendeli’s move, and some of his results didn’t show the continual upwards trajectory he was on.

Eurocup-3 race-winner Francesco Braschi and FREC graduate Victor Bernier were 15th and 19th in the Supercup, with the former taking podiums in Italy while the latter came sixth in Carrera Cup France – two places behind the rookie champion and former FREC rival Marcus Amand.

As none of these names could make the cut, here is Formula Scout’s Class of 2023… Key Wins (W), poles (P), fastest laps (FL)

10. Kas Haverkort NETHERLANDS 21y/o
8th in Porsche Supercup, 7th in PCC Germany (1 W, 1 P, 1 FL), 5th in PSC Southern Europe (2 W)   2023: 4th in FREC (2 W, 2 P, 4 FL)   2022: 5th in FREC (2 W, 1 P, 2 FL)

Photo: Porsche

Another driver to spend their 2024 racing in spec series for Porsche GT cars, and the most successful of them, was Haverkort.

The 2020 Spanish F4 champion continued a trend through his car racing career of only driving for Dutch teams by joining GP Elite to do three different series in one year. This contrasted to having spent the previous three years in just one series, with his three FREC campaigns not earning him a place higher up the single-seater ladder.

In the Supercup, the most prestigious of one-make series, Haverkort qualified 10th on debut and improved to sixth place in the race. Around the streets of Monaco his FREC experience was of use and he started and finished fourth, earning him top rookie honours, and two further top-10 finishes followed at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone.

At the Hungaroring, where he had won from pole in FREC, Haverkort was pipped to top spot in qualifying by just 0.078s and then held second place for the first six laps of the race before being passed. Once gapped by the top two he settled in third, marking another rookie classification win as well as his first overall podium.

Although he remained on the pace following that, he had disastrous races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza that dropped him from fourth to eighth in the standings and cost him the rookie title.

In Carrera Cup Germany he again showed his speciality for the Hungaroring by winning from pole, and two Red Bull Ring podiums before another bad season finale earned him seventh in the points. Yet again the rookie title went amiss due to a bad final race. Not quite delivering on his promise was made more difficult by the fact he had begun the year with two Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe outings that had resulted in two wins and fifth in the standings.

9. Nolan Siegel UNITED STATES 20/o
23rd in IndyCar, Le Mans 24H LMP2 winner, 53rd in IMSA LMP2 class, 17th in Indy Nxt (1 W, 1 P)   2023: 3rd in Indy Nxt (2 W, 2 FL), 5th in Asian LMS (1 W), 8th in IMSA LMP2 (2 W), 24th in Intercontinental GT Challenge, 25th in IMSA LMP3 (1 FL)

Photo: McLaren

Siegel won in USF2000 in 2021, USFP2000 in ’22 and Indy Nxt in ’23, so was heading to IndyCar in 2024 rightly timed?

He came third in the Indy Nxt standings last year, and opted for a second season with HMD Motorsports. But his off-season preparations included IndyCar and SF tests, which prompted a change in plan. Dale Coyne Racing had supported his Indy Nxt entry through 2023, and after his IndyCar test with them he signed to contest four races which didn’t clash with Indy Nxt.

His racing schedule began in St. Petersburg, where he took pole and dominated Indy Nxt’s season-opening race. IndyCar’s non-championship $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club followed, and Siegel was seventh in his heat so didn’t reach the main race. Rick Ware Racing got involved in running his car for the Long Beach Grand Prix, and he finished a lapped 20th. Siegel was runner-up in the next two Indy Nxt races, and was still second in the points when he left round three of the season.

At the Indianapolis 500 he flipped in practice, then was far too slow to qualify for the race so had a second non-start.

A sorry turn of events meant Augustin Canapino withdrew from racing at Road America, and Siegel dropped out of Indy Nxt to take his seat at Juncos Hollinger Racing. Once in the car, which had previously been run in a commercial alliance with McLaren, Siegel had another weekend of being lapped.

Siegel never appeared in Indy Nxt again, as he then signed a multi-year IndyCar deal with McLaren. There was an instant improvement in qualifying by having a more competitive car, twice being 11th on ovals, and came from 20th to finish seventh at Gateway. On a points-per-race basis he would’ve been ahead of his fellow Indy Nxt graduates, but overall his IndyCar campaign didn’t make an impact.

What brings Siegel into this list is his impressive sportscar career. At the Daytona 24 Hours he was in the LMP2 class’s only Ligier and outpaced his team-mates, then won the Le Mans 24H’s LMP2 class at his first attempt. He did the world’s toughest race with less preparation than rivals due to IndyCar commitments meaning he missed testing. A big achievement.

8. Ollie Gray BRITAIN 19y/o
7th in ELMS, 14th in PCC Italy, 22nd in PSC Southern Europe   2023: 28th in FIA F3   2022: 2nd in British F4 (2 W, 2 P)

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

Only in his fourth year of car racing, Gray made a canny career move after a disastrous FIA F3 campaign in 2023. And like Bearman’s rise to F1, it was thanks to the WH Sports management company.

Williams had signed Gray as a junior driver in 2022, and he rewarded its faith by coming second in British F4 with Rodin Carlin. He moved up to F3 with the team, but he and the team were very uncompetitive. Three 14th places were his best results, and he came 28th in the standings.

WH Sports, as with other clients, was quick-moving to find a place where Gray could show off his talents to the world (and of course sponsors) again as soon as possible and found him an ELMS seat alongside IndyCar driver Luca Ghiotto and Novalak.

Campaigns in spec Porsche series with Ombra were added almost immediately after. The PSC Southern Europe season took place between January and March, meaning Gray could get used to racing with a roof over his head early in the year in an environment with less scrutiny than other series. He did two rounds, and penalties cost him a podium on his first outing.

Ghiotto had one LMP2 start to his name prior to the ELMS season, so it was critical for the Inter Europol drivers to learn off each other to be competitive as they couldn’t truly rely on one experienced talent like other line-ups. The combination finished the season opener in 10th, and at Paul Ricard spent two spells in the lead. Their time up front ended with 20 minutes to go as the gearbox went, and a drive-through penalty and race interruptions ended podium ambitions at Imola.

Third place was less than 1.3s away at Spa-Francorchamps, then Gray qualified the car fourth at Mugello and the crew were dominating the race before full course yellows, virtual safety car periods and then red flags brought them back into the pack. Gray was at the wheel then, and tried to reclaim the lead on the restart. Under the next VSC he handed the car over to Ghiotto, who took it from seventh back up to third. The trio finished fifth in the Algarve finale despite Gray ending lap one in 41st after being spun around and then hit.

He also had to pit the car for repairs, but cycled into the lead before making his first proper stop and returning to the track in sixth. Gray was attempting to overtake his team-mate for third before a VSC period began, then he handed the car over. Ghiotto had it in third before a late splash-and-dash pitstop that meant they finished a hard-fought for fifth place.

Gray’s performances did not go unnoticed, and he has now tested a hypercar in America. A big change from 12 months ago.

7. Lorenzo Fluxa SPAIN 20y/o
3rd in ELMS (2 W), 9th in Euroformula (1 W, 1 FL), 12th in Le Mans 24H LMP2, 16th in Int. GT Open   2023-24: 19th in ALMS   2023: 4th in FRegional Middle East, 7th in FRegional Europe

Photo: Marcel Wulf

Victorious in ELMS’ dramatic Algarve finale, and in the opening race at Barcelona, were Cool Racing’s Lorenzo Fluxa, Malthe Jakobsen and Ritomo Miyata.

Fluxa was win-free but competitive in FRegional last year, then stepped up to Euroformula with Motopark for 2024. After one round, in which he took a win, a second and a third, the German team then moved him across to its International GT Open line-up. In the ‘sister’ series to Euroformula, he took three consecutive top-five finishes in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to come 16th in the standings as a part-timer.

ELMS took priority, and the Cool Racing crew’s two wins was accompanied by two retirements. At Paul Ricard they were comfortably leading before car issues forced Jakobsen to retire the car in the final hour, a result that undid their title hopes, then at Imola it was Fluxa who started the car and he kept it clean for an hour-and-a-half to sit in third. But one mistake proved very costly, as a spin as a round of pitstops began meant that when he did pit the car came back out in ninth place.

That result still would’ve earned some crucial points, but stand-in driver Paul-Loup Chatin (since Miyata was racing in F2) then crashed out hard while trying to lap an LMP3 car shortly after the race’s two-hour mark.

At Spa they were in contention to finish third after Fluxa’s time in the car, but in the dramatic squabble for the position late on Jakobsen had to settle for fifth. Fluxa had a battle-filled and fun first two stints at Mugello, but in that time he and several other crews lost far too much time to the cars up front and once his team-mates took over the car dropped to ninth.

The Algarve victory was some justice for a season of learning that had the potential to turn Fluxa and his team-mates into champions. They also did Le Mans, and finished 12th in class.

6. Hunter McElrea NEW ZEALAND 25y/o
IMSA Enduro Cup LMP2 champion (2 W, 1 FL)   2023: 2nd in Indy Nxt (2 W, 2 P, 4 FL)   2022: 4th in Indy Nxt (2 W, 3 P, 1 FL)

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Photo: Chris Jones

The 2023 Indy Nxt runner-up had to wait until July to make his IndyCar debut in Toronto, driving the car Siegel was initially contracted to be in. Afterwards, he boldly claimed he could’ve been “fighting with good pace at the front”.

McElrea was the top rookie in practice, and comfortably faster than Dale Coyne team-mate Toby Sowery, but failed to set a lap in qualifying after crashing and lined up 25th on the grid. He ran as high as ninth before his first pitstop, then 10th in his second stint, before retiring from 20th place.

“Did some cool moves. And then on my last stint, on my outlap I just got in the grey, and just brushed the wall, and then unfortunately a couple laps later the suspension failed from just that little brush. Really unfortunate.”

He then joined Ed Carpenter Racing for post-season testing and was second fastest at The Thermal Club, and is looking for further IndyCar outings in 2025. But his racing future is already secured, after an impressive rookie season in IMSA.

McElrea drove for TDS Racing in the LMP2 class, and only in the five races (ranging from six to 24 hours) that made up the Endurance Cup. The car had already been retired before McElrea got in it at Daytona, which made for an even harder race debut in the Sebring 12 Hours. But on the bumpy track the LMP2 pace was set by McElrea (with the Kiwi put in the car while it was still light), and the TDS car finished 1.127s short of victory.

At Watkins Glen he was again one of the fastest in race conditions, but crashed out in tricky weather conditions. When he returned to the car for the last two IMSA rounds, he was victorious both times. The car finished in the top eight overall in both races, the latter being Petit Le Mans, and meant the crew also won the Endurance Cup. McElrea will stay with TDS for 2025.

5. Arthur Leclerc MONACO 24y/o
4th in ELMS (1 W, 1 FL), Italian GT Endurance champion (2 W, 3 P)   2023: 15th in F2 (1 FL)   2022: 6th in FIA F3 (1 W, 1 FL)

Photo: FocusPackMedia - Marcel Wulf

Photo: ACI Sport

Leclerc spent 2024 learning from some immensely experienced and talented drivers, accelerating his own development as a result. in ELMS he drove an LMP2 car for Panis Racing alongside Charles Milesi (a class winner at Le Mans and champion in WEC) and Manuel Maldonado, while in Italian GT he shared Scuderia Baldini’s Ferrari 296 GT3 with Giancarlo Fisichella, a man with 229 F1 starts and many class wins in IMSA and WEC to his name.

The 24-year-old brother of F1 racer Charles headed to sportscars after a single season in F2 featuring one podium, and following a 2022 in which he had won in FIA F3 and also been FRegional Asian champion.

Although he exited the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2023, Leclerc got a job with the brand as one of its F1 development drivers and as part of that he did several private tests and drove in practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In ELMS he was Panis’s fastest driver in qualifying on his debut, then his team-mates put the car on pole twice later in the season. They turned the first of those into victory at Imola, and went to Algarve contending for the title. But after taking pole, it was a race of going backwards and they finished 16th overall. Despite the sour end, it was a campaign where Leclerc didn’t look like a rookie and Ferrari rewarded him with a hypercar test as well as his F1 running.

Over in Italian GT, the Fisichella/Leclerc car was on pole for three our of four races and won two of them to take the title.

4. Ayumu Iwasa JAPAN 23y/o
5th in Super Formula (1 P)   2023: 4th in F2 (3 W, 1 P, 3 FL)   2022: 5th in F2 (2 W, 2 P, 1 FL)   2021: 12th in FIA F3 (1 W)

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

Failing to become the first Red Bull junior to be Super Formula champion, as a rookie, potentially cost Iwasa a 2025 F1 seat.

Like Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson before him, he proved himself in F2 but with no berth at Red Bull’s second F1 team was sent off to Japan to drive top-tier single-seaters there. Straight away, Iwasa targeted the title with Team Mugen.

He qualified 11th and finished ninth on his debut at Suzuka, then at Autopolis finished second from pole and at Sportsland SUGO started and finished second. Iwasa missed out on pole by just 0.017s at Fuji Speedway, but fell to 11th on lap one and never recovered from there.

At Twin Ring Motegi he climbed from 13th on the grid to seventh, and in the first race of the Fuji double-header took another second place. The next day was tricky, qualifying 12th and finishing sixth, which put him on the backfoot for Suzuka’s season-ending double-header.

Another front row start for race one, ahead of all of his title rivals, was the perfect base to boost his title hopes from but a technical gremlin left him stranded on the grid. From 20th place, he recovered to ninth in the 31-lap race but was now out of title contention. A “very big frustration” followed as he qualified 11th for race two, had to completely rethink his set-up and could only finish seventh.

He ended the season fifth in the standings, and following that Iwasa made an F1 practice and test outing with RB. But he didn’t do enough to earn a seat with the team, and Honda chose to renew his contract with Mugen instead.

3. Theo Pourchaire FRANCE 21y/o
25th in SF, 28th in IndyCar   2023: F2 champion (1 W, 2 P, 2 FL)   2022: 2nd in F2 (3 W)   2021: 5th in F2 (2 W, 1 P, 3 FL)

Photo: James Black

Photo: McLaren

Pourchaire has already had his mental health tested during his career, but the ups-and-downs of 2024 was a whole new level.

The 2023 F2 champion was sent off to SF by long-time backer Sauber, but only lasted one race there before being left without a race campaign and just his F1 reserve driver duties (which didn’t lead to any free practice appearances).

Then McLaren needed a stand-in driver for IndyCar due to David Malukas being injured, and Pourchaire was handed a brilliant chance to prove himself at single-seaters’ top level and scrub his SF cameo from his mind.

He finished 11th on debut in the Long Beach GP, having never driven an Indy car prior to the weekend, and McLaren used him again at Barber Motorsports Park. The results weren’t good, but internally McLaren was impressed and dropped Malukas to sign Pourchaire (who wasn’t bringing budget) for the rest of the year bar the Indy 500 due to him having no oval experience.

Still only 20, Pourchaire thought he may have found a new racing home and relocated to the USA. He finished 19th on IMS’s road course, kept a cool head while others crashed in Detroit to qualify seventh and finish 10th, then was 13th at Road America. Siegel came along after that and took the seat, and Pourchaire tried to keep his head up.

McLaren still rated him, and when an injured Alexander Rossi withdrew from racing in Toronto there was an obvious stand-in.

“Last-minute call, 10-hour flight, six hours of jet lag, almost no sleep, first time driving in six weeks, straight to qualifying & new track. That’s a lot of problems to manage, but we made it work with McLaren!” he beamed afterwards. “From 26 to 14th in the race here in Toronto, by far the craziest experience of my life.”

Upon the expiry of his 2024 contract with Sauber, Pourchaire was announced as Peugeot’s test and development driver in WEC after he impressed in a hypercar test. He will find out next year if his signature is still wanted in F1 and IndyCar.

2. Jonny Edgar BRITAIN 20y/o
ELMS champion (1 W), 30th in IMSA LMP2   2023: 13th in FIA F3 (1 W)   2022: 12th in FIA F3 (2 FL)   2021: 18th in FIA F3

Photo: FocusPackMedia - Jan Patrick Wagner

Photo: Marcel Wulf

Edgar’s name was mentioned so many times in ELMS commentary this year, as AO by TF Sport went on a title charge.

Like Leclerc, he was able to soak up the experience of team-mates Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica, who had already won ELMS and WEC titles together. Yet another crown was clearly the aim for those two, and Edgar stepped up to the plate.

He couldn’t outpace his team-mates in qualifying, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of given the standard they were setting, and in races he was strong wheel-to-wheel and also able to handle lapping traffic without too much trouble. The worst result came on his debut, as the crew lost a lap due to pitstop timing in relation to a safety car period.

They finished third at Paul Ricard, Edgar battled for second through the first two stints at Imola and his team-mates were able to retain the position, and at Spa the trio took victory from pole. The points leaders finished fifth at Mugello, and coming through the choatic Algarve finale in second place was more than enough to deliver the title.

Edgar warmed up for his ELMS campaign by racing an LMP2 car at Daytona and Sebring, and in the latter he was driving for the final stint in the middle of the night. He passed more experienced drivers to finish fourth in class, 7.603s off victory. For 2025, Edgar will continue in IMSA’s LMP2 class while also driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for TF Sport in WEC.

1. Christian Rasmussen DENMARK 24y/o
22nd in IndyCar, Daytona 24H LMP2 winner    2023: Indy Nxt champion (5 W, 5 P, 5 FL), 11th in IMSA LMP2 (1 FL)

Photo: Christian Rasmussen

Unlike other IndyCar rookies, Rasmussen did not have a race-winning car at his disposal this season and so 22nd in the standings, with a single top-10 finish and three missed races as ECR team boss Ed Carpenter took over his car for several oval races, made him the most impressive newcomer to single-seaters’ top level.

Although Mid-Ohio was where his best results came, as he qualified eighth and finished ninth, there were other events where he made more of an impact. At Barber he was in fourth before his final pitstop, a mechanical issue forced him to retire in Detroit after a brilliant cool-headed race spent mostly fighting for seventh or eighth place.

When Rasmussen did get to drive on ovals, he also impressed in the races. At the Indy 500 he was one of many Chevrolet-powered drivers who had engine issues in qualifying, but from 24th on the grid finished 12th and only 5.3s behind the winner in a 200-lap race that ran green through its final quarter. He ran as high as fourth, and never lower than 22nd.

In race one around the Milwaukee Mile he did go a lap down but also got up to sixth place and ultimately finished 11th. He was one of few drivers actually able to make overtakes in the final stint. The next day (after yet another engine change copped him a grid penalty) he ran his first lap in a podium position, but finished 16th after being one of several drivers who ended up on a very bad seven-stop strategy.

Rasmussen concluded his season with a 14th place, and before making his debut he also won the LMP2 class at Daytona.

Not long after the IndyCar season ended, ECR announced a multi-year deal for Rasmussen be one of its full-time drivers.

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Photo: Travis Hinkle

Hunter McElrea, the 2023 Indy Nxt runner-up, boldly claimed he could have been “fighting with good pace at the front” on his IndyCar debut in Toronto last weekend.

The 24-year-old Kiwi was the quickest rookie in practice, and comfortably faster than Dale Coyne Racing team-mate Toby Sowery, but failed to set a lap in qualifying after crashing and lined up 25th on the grid for his first race at single-seaters’ top level.

He ran as high as ninth before completing his first pitstop, then 10th in his second stint, before retiring from 20th place.

“I’m just living the dream here,” said McElrea after practice. “I worked my bum off to be here for a long time. And I didn’t know if I’d really get a shot this year, so finally here! It’s fun. Just chipping away at it honestly, just trying to keep nice and calm. I feel like we’re getting better every lap and we’re learning a lot.”

Despite retiring, McElrea called his debut “an awesome race”. He did not comment on if he had used his weekend in the IndyCar paddock to start talks about landing further outings in 2024 or a full-time 2025 seat, saying “I have no idea what’s in store for me, but I would do anything for another shot in IndyCar”.

“We were moving forward, we had really good pace. Pretty much the same as the leaders, which was awesome,” McElrea said of his race.

“Did some cool moves. And then on my last stint, on my outlap I just got in the grey, and just brushed the wall, and then unfortunately a couple laps later the suspension failed from just that little brush. Really unfortunate.

“I think we were on for a really good result. Obviously not the end result we wanted, not the result the team deserved either, but honestly super proud of I think what we did as a whole this weekend. I think we made a splash and showed great pace.

“Had we not had to start at the back, I think we would have been starting comfortably inside the top 15 and then fighting with good pace at the front. So woulda, shoulda, coulda type of thing.”

He added: “Overall really proud of this weekend. Threw myself in the total deep end and reached a life-long goal of making it to IndyCar.

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Photo: Chris Owens

Dale Coyne Racing has announced that Toby Sowery will continue to drive its #51 car in the next two IndyCar races on the streets of Toronto and at Portland.

Asian Le Mans Series and Indy Nxt race-winner Sowery made his IndyCar debut with the team earlier this month at Mid-Ohio, qualifying 24th and finishing 13th.

He is one of six different drivers to have raced the #51 car this season, with previous occupants including Indy Nxt graduate Nolan Siegel (who is now racing for McLaren) and former Formula 2 driver Luca Ghiotto.

Incredible job from DCR to give me such a great debut,” Sowery said of his Mid-Ohio weekend the day after the race. “The car was alive in the race and I loved every lap! P25 to P13 is something to be proud of in my eyes. Deffo on the achey side today! What a great crowd Mid-Ohio has as well.”

On his return to the cockpit in Toronto this weekend, having missed the oval races at Iowa Speedway last weekend, the 28-year-old Briton added: “Cat’s out the bag! Excited to get some momentum going with DCR.”

His third outing at Portland is on August 24/25, then he will return to his primary racin programme which is with Algarve Pro Racing in IMSA’s LMP2 class. DCR is yet to announce who will be driving the car in the oval race at Gateway on August 17, nor for the double-header at Milwaukee Mile and the race at Nashville Superspeedway that conclude the season.

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Photo: Chris Jones

Hunter McElrea will make his IndyCar debut in this weekend’s Indy Toronto race, becoming the fourth different driver to pilot Dale Coyne Racing’s #18 car this year.

Nolan Siegel had been signed with DCR on a four-round deal that included Toronto, to go alonside his Indy Nxt campaign with HMD Motorsports, but last month he left both teams to join McLaren’s IndyCar line-up in controversial circumstances.

That left DCR needing a replacement driver for IndyCar’s only race outside of the USA, and 24-year-old Kiwi racer McElrea has been picked after impressing in Indy Nxt and more recently IMSA.

McElrea won twice in his rookie Indy Nxt season in 2022, and took two more victories last year en route to being championship runner-up. He switched to sportscar racing for 2024 by joining TDS Racing in IMSA’s LMP2 prototype class, and made the podium on his second start. Recently he picked up IndyCar test mileage too with DCR.

“It’s a dream come true for me to be making my IndyCar debut,” said McElrea. “I’ve been working toward this for a long time, and I have to thank Dale [Coyne] for the opportunity. I can’t wait to get to Toronto, which is one of the coolest events of the year.”

Team boss Dale Coyne added: “Hunter impressed the team during our test last week at Mid-Ohio. He quickly got up to speed and helped run through our testing plan. I’m excited to see what he can do on the streets of Toronto this weekend.”

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Photo: Chris Owens

Toby Sowery will make his IndyCar debut in next weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio, driving Dale Coyne Racing’s #51 car.

The 28-year-old Englishman will become the sixth different driver to race the car this season, with previous occupants including Indy Nxt graduate Nolan Siegel (who is now racing for McLaren) and former Formula 2 driver Luca Ghiotto.

“Racing in IndyCar is an exciting challenge for anyone, and I’m extremely fortunate to be given this opportunity by Dale [Coyne],” said Sowery.

“Dale has been fundamental to IndyCar in giving drivers opportunities to prove themselves, and I’m eager for this challenge. It’ll be a difficult step to make having only one day in the car over a year ago, as well as adapting to the hybrid system, but I’m up for it.”

Sowery started his single-seater career a decade ago in MotorSport Vision’s Formula 3 Cup for old F3 cars, and he was champion as a rookie. He then won the 2014-15 MRF Challenge title, came 14th in a part-time British Formula 4 campaign in 2015 and was third in BRDC British F3 the year after.

A second season in that series was not as productive, with Sowery dropping to fourth in the standings and taking two wins compared to the five he claimed the year before, then in 2018 he combined a move to sportscars in International GT Open campaign with single-seater outings in Italian F4 and USF Pro 2000.

He finally reached single-seaters’ second tier in 2019, coming third in Indy Nxt with one win and six other podiums. After a year out he returned to the series in 2021 and claimed three more podiums in a part-time campaign, then entered two rounds last year and took another podium.

So far his primary programme in 2024 has been in IMSA’s LMP2 class with Algarve Pro Racing. He sits fifth in the standings with one podium so far. He is also racing in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

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Photo: Matt Fraver

Dale Coyne Racing has signed Indy Nxt racer Nolan Siegel for a part-time IndyCar programme this season.

The 19-year-old came third in his rookie Indy Nxt campaign last year, winning two races with HMD Motorsports. He will stay with the team for the 2024 season, which supports IndyCar at 12 of its 15 rounds.

The IndyCar events where Siegel is free of Indy Nxt duties is the non-championship $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club (March 23/24), the Long Beach Grand Prix (April 19-21), the Indianapolis 500 (May 14-26) and Indy Toronto (July 20/21).

He will be entered into all four with DCR, but will have to be among the top 33 qualifiers to make it onto the Indy 500 grid. Driving the team’s #18 car in all other races will be British Formula 3 champion, two-time Indy Nxt runner-up and IndyCar regular Jack Harvey.

Siegel got his first taste of IndyCar with DCR in the series’ group test at Homestead-Miami Speedway and seriously impressed. He spoke afterwards to media, including Formula Scout, about how that opportunity came about.

“I’m super excited to be joining DCR for Thermal, Long Beach, the Indy 500 and Toronto in the #18 car this season,” said Siegel. “It’s a lifelong dream come true for me to be racing in IndyCar. I can’t wait to make the most of this opportunity.

“Huge thank you to Dale, everyone at the team and everyone that has been a part of my career up until now that’s helped get me here. Thermal is right around the corner. We’re going to get to work, and I can’t wait to get back in the car.”

DCR team owner Dale Coyne added: “Nolan is a pleasure to work with. He impressed us at the Homestead test with how quickly he was up to speed for his first time in the car.”

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Photo: Nolan Siegel

Nolan Siegel will race in Indy Nxt this year, but his off-season preparations have included surprise tests at single-seaters’ top level.

Last December he joined B-MAX Racing for Super Formula’s rookie test at Suzuka, then tasted IndyCar with Dale Coyne Racing in January’s group test at Homestead-Miami Speedway and seriously impressed.

Formula Scout asked the 19-year-old what led to testing in Japan, in a series not on his career radar.

“[It] came about because we were going into the off-season with limited testing and I was hoping that I’d get an opportunity to drive an Indy car. Obviously didn’t know it would [later] happen,” recalled Siegel.

“The SF car is very, very fast and just completely different. There was actually an opportunity with a different team that I didn’t end up taking. But then we got thinking ‘maybe this is a good thing to do and it would be a lot of fun’. So I made the trip out to Japan, drove a really fast car with a completely different environment and it was difficult, it was really tough.

“But I think those difficult situations are the ones that you learn the most from. I learned a tonne and definitely going to the IndyCar test after driving something faster than an Indy car, rather than going from Indy Nxt to IndyCar, was huge.”

Siegel’s Indy Nxt car in 2023 was co-run by DCR and HMD Motorsports. He revealed at 2024 pre-season testing the story behind his IndyCar call-up.

“It came about in an interesting way, for sure. I was at Daytona at the Roar [the 24-hour race’s test] driving the LMP2 car and Dale Coyne came up to our pit box, tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘hey, can we talk for a minute’. He said they were testing that week.

“Dale told me on Tuesday afternoon, the test was on Wednesday and said ‘hey, come to Miami, it’s happening’. So I grabbed my seat from the HMD shop here in Indianapolis, and flew to Orlando, drove to Miami and didn’t see the car until the morning of the test. It was very late. But I’m really glad it came together and think it went really well. Not a lot of preparation but overall super, super happy that I got the opportunity.”

How unprepared was Siegel? “I got there that morning and the Honda guys were like ‘have you seen a manual for the car or anything?’. I was like ‘never seen the steering wheel in my life, don’t know what any of the buttons do’. They were like ‘okay, just go drive, here’s the clutch, go’.”

The “incredible experience” left Siegel “itching to get back into the Indy car” and “even hungrier” to become 2024 Indy Nxt champion. While he does not know if the offer would have come had he not been at Daytona, he noted “Dale tries to be as involved as he possibly can” in Indy Nxt operations so hopes “I would have gotten that opportunity no matter what”.

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Photo: Chris Owens

IndyCar rookie Sting Ray Robb says Linus Lundqvist, who beat him to last year’s Indy Nxt title, ‘deserves a seat’ in the series.

Lundqvist looks set to become the first Indy Nxt champion since Jean-Karl Vernay 2010 to not graduate into professional single-seater racing the following year, despite winning the title with HMD Motorsports that co-runs an IndyCar operation.

Robb, who raced for Andretti Autosport in Indy Nxt and steps up to IndyCar in the Dale Coyne Racing car co-run by HMD, explained on IndyCar’s pre-season ‘Content Day’ how becoming aware of Lundqvist’s difficulties in stepping up led him to his seat after “lots of talks between different teams”.

“There was a few teams that we were talking to, and Dale’s team was not the one that was at the top of the list because we thought they already had a driver,” Robb revealed.

“With Linus winning the Indy Nxt championship, we assumed with the HMD association there that there would be a straight shoe-in for him. But I actually was at PitFit Training one day with Linus and discovered that was not the case. That created an opportunity for us that allowed me to call up my manager, Peter Rossi [McLaren IndyCar driver Alexander’s father], and get him on the phone, and he immediately called Dale and said ‘hey, we’re available’.

“I think there was a mutual understanding of what availability was for either one of us. That’s when conversations began with testing options, because at that point he had already committed to testing Marcus [Armstrong] in the car and Danial [Frost] in the car at the Sebring test in the late off-season last year.

“Then we had a really good test in 2023 right at the beginning of January, and I think that was kind of the one that set the tone that allowed me to get in the seat.”

Robb had “assumed Linus was locked into the seat” and even when he started talking with DCR he was “also still talking to another team”.

A call with a journalist led to Robb learning that there was also a team with Argentinian connections (assumed to be Juncos Hollinger Racing) interested in starting talks, and with that as a negotiating tool he “had a conversation with Dale after that, and it expedited the process, and here we are now”.

He commented further on Lundqvist’s IndyCar ambitions, saying: “Well, I believe that I deserve a seat and he beat me, so there’s your answer.”

“Linus does deserve a seat. His on-track performance was incredible. But it takes more than just a driver to get into IndyCar. You’ve got to have a village around you that supports you, and so I think that that is where my group made a difference.

“It wasn’t just in my performance, but it was the people around me. I feel bad for Linus because as a driver I can feel that way towards him because I could be in that seat if I didn’t have those same people around me.”

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