Photos: Red Bull Content Pool

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.

Logan Sargeant was the only driver to make it to Formula 1 at the start of 2023, joining Williams for a season in which he scored a single point but did enough to retain his seat for a second year, and during summer AlphaTauri called up Sargeant’s former Formula 2 and Formula 3 rival Liam Lawson to substitute for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.

IndyCar had five rookies who contested more than just the Indianapolis 500. Last year’s Indy Nxt runner-up Sting Ray Robb joined Dale Coyne Racing, and in a car co-run by Rick Ware Racing he took a best finish of 12th and came 23rd in the points. Benjamin Pedersen only came fifth in the 2022 Indy Nxt season but also earned an IndyCar graduation with AJ Foyt Racing. He finished no higher than 15th, leaving him 27th in the standings.

Joining the grid for the final two races of the season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was F2 graduate Juri Vips, who had been out of racing for several months after his F1 dreams ended in summer 2022 with the use of racial slur on a livestream. It was difficult to judge how well Vips did with his last-minute call-up, but RLLR has “a long-term plan” for him.

Esports star Cem Bolukbasi had a brief junior single-seater career, coming ninth in the Formula Regional Asian Championship and fifth in a part-time Euroformula campaign in which he claimed two wins in 2021, then racing part-time in F2 last year, but that was enough to get him a seat on the Super Formula grid with TGM Grand Prix for 2023.

Qualifying 20th for his debut at Fuji Speedway suggested he might be out of his depth, but it only took 10 laps for him to get into the top 10 and he eventually finished eighth. His qualifying form didn’t improve, with 14th being his best starting position, but he did score points with a ninth place at Suzuka and he came 18th in the standings.

Photo: B-MAX Racing

FRegional Japanese Championship race-winner Riki Okusa was his team-mate for the last two rounds, while FRAC and FRegional Americas champion Raoul Hyman stepped up with B-MAX Racing but could do no better than 18th in qualifying and 15th in races over the season.

Andretti Global had to call upon their reserve driver David Beckmann for the Jakarta E-Prix, and the F2 graduate finished 16th on his Formula E debut.

There were plenty of ex-junior single-seater racers who found success in LMP2 prototypes. Jota Sports’s Oliver Rasmussen did two FIA F3 Championship rounds alongside his World Endurance Championship programme last year, but for 2023 was able to focus solely on sportscars and he came sixth in the standings. He won his class in the Monza Six Hours.

Euroformula graduate Filip Ugran was 10th in the standings with Prema, and Alpine driver Olli Caldwell came 18th.

Marino Sato bounced back from four underwhelming years in F2 by joining United Autosports in the European Le Mans Series. He won three of the six races and was championship runner-up. Two places behind was Duqueine Team’s Nico Pino, who won the season opener, finished second in the next race but then didn’t visit the podium again.

David Schumacher drove in the DTM and FIA F3 in 2022, and swapped the latter for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup this year. He drove a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to 17th in the standings there, topping the Gold Cup classification at the Nurburgring, and to 25th in the DTM.

Nicola Marinangeli came sixth in International GT Open in a AF Corse-run Ferrari, and team-mate Conrad Laursen was seventh in ELMS’ GTE class.

As none of these names could make the cut, here is Formula Scout’s Class of 2022… Key Wins (W), poles (P), fastest laps (FL)

10. Calan Williams AUSTRALIA 23y/o
9th in GTWC Europe Sprint Cup (29th in GTWCE [Gold Cup champion])   2022: 23rd in F2   2021: 19th in FIA F3 Championship

Photo: SRO/ Patrick Hecq Photography

Williams made the podium more times this year than he did in his last five years in single-seater racing.

A fourth place was his best finish from two seasons in Euroformula, and a sprint race podium at Paul Ricard was one of only three times in which he scored points in two FIA F3 Championship campaigns. It took just three races to earn a top-four finish when he stepped up to F2 last year, but did not score again after that and came 23rd in the standings.

Despite that lack of success, he was picked up crack GT racing team WRT for 2023 to drive one of their BMW M4 GT3s in GTWCE. He shared his car with Niklas Krutten, and the pair were entered into the Gold Cup classification.

They came ninth overall in GTWCE’s Sprint Cup, making the podium in the season finale at Zandvoort, and claimed the Gold Cup crown with four wins from the 10 races.

Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer joined them in the car for the Endurance Cup, and their best result was 12th overall in the Monza Three Hours. That equated to being the third best Gold Cup entry, and despite finishing in a lower position they were Gold Cup runners-up in the Spa 24 Hours and third in the Nurburgring Three Hours. That led to them being fifth in the Gold Cup’s Endurance standings, and combined with the Sprint results meant Krutten and Williams were 29th overall in GTWCE and the Gold Cup champions.

9. Alex Quinn BRITAIN 23/o
10th in IMSA LMP2 (2 FL)   2022: 17th in USF2000 (3 W, 2 FL)   2021: 9th in FRegional European Championship

Photo: PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports

Quinn actually graduated from British F4 to sportscars back in 2018, competing in British GT’s GT4 class and failing to score in his six races.

He then returned to single-seaters, coming fourth in the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup with a win an a pole then moving across to the FRegional European Championship the year after and starting the season with two podiums in the first four races but later going on a long points-free run and ending up ninth the standings.

Last year he only made one race outing, but did an impressive job in his USF2000 cameo on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course as he won all three races and set the fastest lap in two of them. It was enough to come 17th in the points table.

This year he stayed in America to join PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in IMSA’s LMP2 class. It proved to be an inspired move from the off, with Quinn being in the class’s pole-winning car for the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours. He was seventh and fourth in class respectively at the end of those two races, and less than seven seconds off victory at Sebring.

He finished third in his next two outings in the Six Hours of the Glen and Petit Le Mans, although the latter event didn’t quite go to plan. Although his car started on overall pole, both Quinn and his team-mate spun while at the wheel. Quinn’s mistake cost them the LMP2 lead.

8. Logan Sargeant UNITED STATES 22y/o
21st in F1   2022: 4th in F2 (2 W, 2 P)   2021: 7th in FIA Formula 3 (1 W), 19th in ELMS (1 P), 6th in Le Mans Cup – GT3 (2 W, 2 P, 3 FL)

Photo: Williams Racing

Sargeant’s two wins and two poles in his sole F2 season helped him come fourth in the standings, and earn a Williams F1 seat for 2023. Was it too soon?

He became the first American to race in F1 for over seven years, just as the world championship added a third race in the USA to its schedule, ticking a box several other teams in the paddock had tried but failed to.

Sargeant was thoroughly bettered by his team-mate Alex Albon, being outqualified by him at every single event and scoring one point to Albon’s 27. Fittingly Sargeant’s best results came on home soil, as he took his sole point in the United States Grand Prix and his best starting position was sixth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The only other time he reached Q3 was at the Dutch Grand Prix, where he qualified 10th.

Sargeant’s worse form tended to be on sprint weekends, with less practice time before qualifying, and he finished no higher than 16th in a sprint race.

In Japan he suffered a qualifying crash that required Williams to rebuild his car to enable him to race, and he only lasted a few laps before a lock-up and another crash. This time he kept going before the damage eventually led him to retire. The next event was the Qatar Grand Prix, where he failed to set a flying lap in sprint qualifying, spun out after two laps of the sprint race then retired from the grand prix itself due to heatstroke. It wasn’t a great end to the year, but ultimately he did enough to earn a second season with Williams.

7. Kakunoshin Ohta JAPAN 24y/o
7th in SF (1 W), 14th in Super GT   2022: 2nd in SF Lights (4 W, 6 P, 7 FL), 8th in Super GT300, Super Taikyu – ST-Z champion (2 W, 3 P, 3 FL)   2021: 14th in FRJC, 5th in Japanese Formula 4 (1 FL), 3rd in Super Taikyu – ST-Z

Photo: Super Formula

Ohta took two wins from three Japanese Formula 4 seasons, which didn’t suggest his single-seater career would amount to much, but he did make the podium in French F4 and FRJC cameos.

Then last year he stepped up to Super Formula Lights with Toda Racing and everything changed. The one-car entry was the winner of four races and six pole positions, with other impressive stats including seven fastest laps and 12 podiums. Ohta ended up being championship runner-up, and was only a few points short of becoming champion.

He stepped up to SF for 2023 with Dandelion Racing, and initially found the step up difficult. In the first four races, Ohta qualified no higher than 17th and finished no higher than 15th. But then his form started to improve, rapidly.

At Sportsland SUGO he qualified ninth, but finished 15th again, then at Fuji Speedway (the first track on the schedule he was visiting for a second time in his rookie season) he qualified third – just 0.268 seconds off pole – and finished sixth. He was 1.5s off fourth place at the chequered flag.

Ohta was even closer to the pace at Twin Ring Motegi, qualifying on the front row, then in the double-header Suzuka finale he was fourth in qualifying for race one and made the front row again for race two.

In race one he rose to second on the opening lap, then lost a spot on lap two and was still in third when the race was red flagged due to a huge crash. Half points were awarded, but Ohta earned a ‘proper’ podium in race two by snatching the lead on lap one then holding off Lawson throughout to win. The result put him seventh in the standings, a position nobody would have expected pre-season.

Having raced in Super GT300 last year and won the title in Super Taikyu’s GT4 class, Ohta was also promoted to Super GT’s top GT500 class for 2023 and he took one podium en route to 14th in the points.

=5. Linus Lundqvist SWEDEN 24y/o
31st in IndyCar (2 FL), 13th in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia   2022: Indy Nxt champion (5 W, 7 P, 3 FL)   2021: 3rd in Indy Nxt (3 W, 3 P, 2 FL)

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Sometimes waiting a little longer for your debut at single-seaters’ top level can prove more effective than stepping up straight after winning a second-tier title. F2 champion Oscar Piastri had to remain patient for a whole year, while 2022 Indy Nxt champion Lundqvist got to make his IndyCar debut this August rather than need to wait until 2024.

For a long time Indy Nxt had a prize money system that guaranteed the champion at least three IndyCar starts, including the Indy 500, the next year. But when IndyCar’s owner Penske Entertainment took over Indy Nxt in 2022, it reduced the size of the champion’s prize pot. Lundqvist couldn’t make the step up with the money he had.

He won three races as an Indy Nxt rookie in 2021, then romped to the 2022 title with five wins and six poles. Andretti Autosport gave him an IndyCar test at the end of his first season, then he had to wait until April of this year for another as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing ran him on the Texas oval. Ed Carpenter Racing provided further seat time at Sebring in June, then at the end of July he got called up to race as Meyer Shank Racing needed a substitute for the injured Simon Pagenaud.

Just like Piastri, Lundqvist stunned a paddock with his adaptation and his reward is spending next year in a team he could win races with.

Lundqvist qualified 11th for his debut in Nashville, then ran as high as third and set the fastest lap in the race before crashing out. Negotiations with multiple teams about a 2024 seat began shortly after.

MSR called up Lundqvist two more times. He started and finished 12th on the IMS road course, then on the Gateway oval took another fastest lap. Only two other drivers got multiple fastest laps this year. Four days after that performance, Chip Ganassi Racing announced it had signed Lundqvist to race full-time next season.

=5. Robert Shwartzman RUSSIA/ISRAEL 24y/o
8th in GTWCE Endurance Cup (1 W, 1 P) (19th in GTWCE)   2022: no racing   2021: 2nd in F2 (2 W, 3 FL)

Photo: Ferrari

Photo: SRO

Shwartzman came fourth and second in his two F2 seasons, earning him sixth place in Formula Scout’s Top 50 in both years.

After that Ferrari promoted its junior to an F1 test role for 2022, then to being their reserve driver for 2023. He was also given a race programme for this year, joining AF Corse’s line-up in the GTWCE Endurance Cup.

The sportscar newcomer quickly got up to pace in his Ferrari 296 GT3 and contributed to the success of the car he co-drove with the far more experienced Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera. They finished eighth in the Monza 3H, seventh in the Paul Ricard 1000 Kilometres and then won the season-ending Barcelona Three Hours to come eighth in the standings. Despite missing all of the sprint rounds, they still came 19th overall in GTWCE.

Shwartzman was a valued member of Ferrari’s F1 squad too, and he drove in free practice at two grands prix. He then contested the WEC’s rookie test in Ferrari’s hypercar and topped the times, and is expected to race an additional third entry next season.

Away from his Ferrari work, Shwartzman took up two opportunities this year that may suggest he still has an eye on racing single-seaters even if he can’t find a way into F1. He did an IndyCar test with Ganassi and set a strong impression on the team, and drove for DS Penske in FE’s rookie test and also its more recent pre-season test.

4. Jake Hughes BRITAIN 29y/o
12th in FE (2 P)   2022: 16th in F2   2021: 18th in F2

Photo: Formula E

Photo: McLaren

After several seasons acting as reference driver first in FIA F3 then in F2, Jake Hughes finally earned a well-deserved drive in a professional series like FE.

McLaren took over Mercedes’ works team in the championship and promoted Hughes from development and reserve driver to a race seat.

The Briton was a rookie in terms of competing, but knew the team and the car well thanks to his involvement in previous years, and took advantage of it. He caused a sensation in the early rounds, where he impressed with his pace. He was third, second and first in the first three qualifying sessions, with his pole position coming in Riyadh, but dropped to fifth, eighth and fifth in the races as his McLaren powertrain was less competitive in the longer distance.

Hughes struggled to replicate his blistering pace of the opening rounds as the season progressed, but still scored points at several events. He was back on pole on the most famous street circuit of them all, Monaco, but the podium escaped him once again as he finished in fifth.

As a rookie, he edged his more experienced team-mate Rene Rast, and definitely proved he belongs in the world championship. Given teams know his skills for technical development as well as results on track, he could well become one of FE’s main contenders in the years to come.

3. Marcus Armstrong NEW ZEALAND 23y/o
20th in IndyCar, 18th in Macau GP   2022: 13th in F2 (3 W)   2021: 13th in F2 (1 W)

Photo: James Black

Photo: Chris Owens

On reflection it’s puzzling that Armstrong was 13th in all three of his F2 seasons, despite winning four races and driving for three top teams. He made the podium in two of his first four races, but that strong form then deserted him in his rookie year.

When title-winning IndyCar team Ganassi signed Armstrong for 2023 to drive on a part-time deal, with his schedule omitting all of IndyCar’s oval races, nobody thought that the Kiwi didn’t deserve it but the question was raised on how difficult would it be to measure his progress as a driver by starting his career at single-seater’s top level in one of the very top teams rather than proving himself at a smaller squad.

Armstrong qualified 13th and finished 11th on his debut, then in his next appearance came eighth in the Long Beach Grand Prix. There were four more top-10 finishes and no DNFs from his 12 starts, enough to beat three full-timers to IndyCar’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ honours. His scoring rate was strong enough to put him 13th in the standings had he done the whole campaign, ahead of several big-name drivers.

A trend that continued from his junior single-seater career was underperforming in qualifying, although this year his average finishing position was only very slightly higher than his starting average. He’ll need to improve in 2024, since Ganassi has given him a full-time ride and he’ll have two less experienced drivers as team-mates.

2. Liam Lawson NEW ZEALAND 21y/o
2nd in SF (3 W, 1 P, 2 FL), 20th in F1   2022: 3rd in F2 (4 W, 3 FL)   2021: 2nd in DTM (3 W, 4 P, 1 FL), 9th in F2 (1 W, 1 P, 2 FL)

Lawson impressed in his maiden season racing GT cars in DTM back in 2021, becoming vice-champion in a campaign he juggled with what was also his first F2 season.

In 2022, the Red Bull junior focused on F2 and finished third ahead of Carlin team-mate Sargent. However, those achievements and proving himself as a quick adapter were not enough to earn a F1 seat, and he had to content himself with a spot on the SF grid with Team Mugen alongside F1 reserve driver duties.

Like he had done several times in the past, the New Zealander won on his debut in the series from third on the grid, then was demoted from third to fifth because of a penalty in the second race of the season-opening double-header at Fuji.

Lawson took his inevitable first win in round three at Autopolis and then another in round five at Fuji, which left him one point off championship leader Ritomo Miyata with three races to go.

An unfortunate race at Motegi, where he finished 13th after an incident at the start, put him on the back foot heading into Suzuka’s double-header finale. The title decider marked the first time he started on pole, but finishing second in the race also meant he finished second in the championship, eight points behind Miyata.

Between the last two rounds, he made his F1 debut with Red Bull’s second F1 team AlphaTauri. Daniel Riccardo injured himself in the second practice session at the Dutch GP, and Lawson was in the car for FP3 and excelled straightaway. He finished 13th in the latest of late call-ups, and stayed for four more grands prix, always matching the pace of his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda both in qualifying and races. If there was a standout event, then it has to be the Singapore Grand Prix as Lawson got through to Q3 – beating Tsunoda and Red Bull’s two drivers – and scored his first F1 points by finishing ninth in the race.

Unless something changes massively, Lawson will spend 2024 back on the sidelines as reserve driver to Red Bull’s two teams and hoping he can finally have a very much deserved spot on the grid in 2025.

1. Oscar Piastri AUSTRALIA 22y/o
9th in F1 (1 P, 1 W, 2 FL)   2022: no racing   2021: F2 champion (6 W, 5 P, 6 FL)

Photo: McLaren

Photo: McLaren

Although he graduated from F2 in 2021 as a dominant champion, it was not until 2023 that Piastri landed a professional race seat, which makes him eligible for this list.

It is true that Piastri arrived in F1 having completed an extensive testing programme as an Alpine junior. However, the challenges posed by the pinnacle of motorsport should not be underestimated and especially in Piastri’s case, as he came in amid a team change and a legal battle for his services.

His season was in crescendo. The Australian did not have the dream start other McLaren F1 rookies enjoyed in the past, partly due to the struggles of a car that was not born well. But as it ramped up, Piastri also raised his level to become a regular in the fight for top positions.

In the second half of the year, he matched his rapid team-mate Lando Norris over one lap, outqualifying him on several occasions. Norris still had the upper hand in races though, where Piastri usually fell a bit behind. If he closes that gap in 2024, the battle within the Woking stable will be extremely tight.

In the flyaway leg of the season, Piastri reached the podium in Japan and Qatar, the highlights of a formidable rookie F1 campaign. If his drive at Suzuka had been excellent, then his performance at Losail was on another level. He made the most of his testing experience at the Qatari circuit as well as a strong car to claim pole in the sprint shootout and win the sprint race on Saturday. Then on Sunday he rose from sixth on the grid to second place for what is his best career result to date.

Written by Alejandro Alonso Lopez and Ida Wood

The post Formula Scout’s Class of 2022 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Chris Owens

Winning the 2022 Indy Nxt title wasn’t enough to get Linus Lundqvist into an IndyCar seat for this year, but once one last-minute opportunity came along it helped ignite his ongoing bid to be on the grid full-time

Linus Lundqvist keeps smiling. He can’t just stop. Not long after being announced as one of Chip Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar drivers for 2024, he’s sitting with a group of journalists who want to find out how he’s landed the hottest seat of silly season.

Although he won’t race for Ganassi until next year, Lundqvist is shadowing the team for the final two races of 2023 and seeking to learn as much as he can from his future crewmates to “hit the ground running” come the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg next March.

Estimations of how Lundqvist will perform with IndyCar’s current dominant team can wait for a later date, although his recent series cameos do provide a good picture, because what everyone wants to know is how the 24-year-old Swede went from struggling to convince any team boss to give him a ride to then landing a seat that most drivers in IndyCar would want.

“I mean, it’s unbelievable. Still, today I have difficulty to put it into words how much this means,” said Lundqvist. “I’m incredibly thankful to Chip [Ganassi], Mike [Hull] and everybody involved to making this happen. Firstly, it’s a dream to even be an IndyCar driver. But to be able to do it with a team like Chip Ganassi Racing, it’s unbelievable.”

What he’s working on right now is “learning everybody’s names” and “seeing how the team operates”, the end tasks on a mission lasting two-and-a-half years. At the start of that, Lundqvist was yet to even debut in IndyCar’s primary feeder series Indy Nxt, and had stepped down from Formula 3 to contest the Formula Regional Americas championship.

“Without the American ladder system with the scholarships, I would not be sitting here today,” affirms Lundqvist. “And that was one of the leading causes that made me venture over to the US.”

Photo: FR Americas

He dominated FRegional, winning 15 out of 17 races and going unbeaten in qualifying. After doing that, he thought it was a good point at which to start knocking on IndyCar’s door.

“I’ll tell you, I’ve been harassing this team for about two-and-a-half years time about getting me a deal. I started a very long time ago,” Lundqvist confessed.

After following up his FRegional title with the Indy Nxt one in 2022, Lundqvist’s best IndyCar option was reported to be Dale Coyne Racing. But no deal arose, and he spent winter “fighting like crazy to find a spot” at American single-seaters’ top level but was “bummed out” to fail in that quest. Since then, he has “tried to do everything” to remain “at the forefront of these team bosses’ heads”.

That worked, because when Meyer Shank Racing needed a substitute for the injured Simon Pagenaud at last month’s Music City Grand Prix, Lundqvist got the call. He qualified 11th and took fastest lap in the race on the streets of Nashville, but did not finish, “and after that, some more serious talks started to happen”.

“I’ve been harassing these team principals, each and every one of them, for the last couple of years, and I didn’t stop doing that. The only difference was that maybe at Nashville it was the other way around where all of a sudden they were calling me instead of me calling them.”

When Lundqvist impressed again in his second and third races as Pagenaud’s stand-in, finishing 12th on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course and taking another fastest lap at the Gateway oval, the calls kepts coming.

Those recent weeks of negotiation with Ganassi (and talks with other teams) may have “been intense”, but Lundqvist reiterates “this started a very, very long time ago” and was never holding the expectation “that it was going to work out” with any party. The fact that it previously didn’t “makes it the more sweeter” to land his coveted multi-year Ganassi deal, and even more so when thinking back to how he had to hunt for seats at times in junior series.

Lundqvist’s junior career

“This is the first time ever in my career that I’ve actually known that I’m going to be racing full-time next year. And obviously, as part of a multi-year deal, I know that I’m going to be racing for a few years ahead of me, which is something unbelievable,” he said. “To be in this position, to be racing in IndyCar together with this team, my life has made a drastic change in the last couple of weeks.”

The mindset through his mission to make it into IndyCar was “I’m hoping for the best, but I’m preparing for the worst”. Once the calls were going back and forth between driver and teams, what was the latter asking for?

“The money side and the budget side of racing is always is always there,” Lundqvist told Formula Scout. “In IndyCar you’ve got not a 50/50 split, I think probably a few more of the teams have fully sponsored cars, which obviously give them a little bit more freedom and doesn’t require the driver to bring in sponsorship, which is good.

“A lot of the teams basically said that obviously you’ve done well in the junior series, but a lot about it is timing as well. Because even though when you have the results and even though from the outside it looks like everything might work out, there are other things happening and outside factors that can decide those decisions.

“I think when we had the opportunity at Nashville and at Indy and kind of showed for real what we have in the big series, I think they kind of took a second look at us and said that ‘hey, this guy, he’s a proven race winner in the lower series and he seems to be able to handle himself in IndyCar’. And I think that’s kind of what made the final decision, kind of tip them over. What I think, at least. I don’t know. You’re going to have to ask [Chip] yourself! But that’s the best way that I tell myself at night, at least that was the big decision moment.”

Lundqvist spent the whole of 2023 to date keeping race-fit, despite not knowing the physical demands of a full IndyCar race, being ready for if he was going to jump into a cockpit. It worked as he didn’t struggle on his debut, but he will still have to up his game on that front for next year which will be – despite IndyCar’s lack of a calendar yet – his busiest in racing.

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Having already done his talking over the phone, Nashville was the first opportunity to do it on track “in front of each and every team down this paddock”. And at the time, Lundqvist had no indication he would be needed again by Meyer Shank.

“I know how this business works, in the sense of I knew the pressure and the opportunity that I had going into Nashville, that if we were to perform, I was going to do myself and my career a huge favour. But it’s the same other way around. If I would have gone in and didn’t perform, then that’s probably the end of my career. So I knew the pressure that I had going into it and I did everything that I could to prepare myself for it and do the best job that we could.

“And I think that is one of the bigger reasons that we sit here today. I don’t believe that’s the full reason. I want to believe that the effort and work and results that we put in years prior to this, and maybe me harassing Mike and Chip over these last couple of years have actually paid off. I want to believe that a combination of all that may have made this happen.”

As impressive as two fastest laps from three IndyCar starts is, “I’d like to think it wasn’t just the fastest lap that made the decision from the big bosses to have me here”.

And now, to look ahead. Besides actually earning him his Ganassi seat, what have Lundqvist’s three races done in making him IndyCar-ready for 2024?

“These three races this year has helped me tremendously. And in almost an ironic way, this year seems to have prepared me the best possible way for next year. So I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity that I had with Meyer Shank. And I was happy as well that we were able to do Nashville (a street course), Indy (a road course), and Gateway (a short oval). And having tested on Texas earlier this year [pictured below], on a superspeedway.

“So we’ve ticked a lot of boxes this year. I would have loved to tick all of them and have been racing full-time. But if not, this turned out to be the second best way.”

Photo: Penske Entertainment

And that means for next year “I know it’s going to be tough in the beginning, but I also know that I’m going to have the best people surrounding me”.

Since the 2012 introduction of the Dallara DW12 (a car which over three lifecycles of updates has become the IR18), Ganassi has won six titles, with the most recent claimed last weekend. The contributions of their current line-up are 28 wins and four titles from Scott Dixon, nine wins and two titles from Alex Palou, and four wins from Marcus Ericsson including last year’s Indianapolis 500. Ericsson will move on next year, and Palou signed a deal to join McLaren but now plans to stay in his seat (and get sued for it). Lundqvist knows he’ll at least have six-time champion and “all-time great” Dixon to learn from.

“I’m extremely excited to be working with not only the drivers, but you look at the mechanic and engineering side and it’s some of the best names in the sport. And you just look at the team’s history, you know that you’re going to be able to fight for wins and podiums at almost every race, and that’s everything and more as a driver you could ask for.”

But Lundqvist is also preparing himself for a rookie season spent fighting in the midfield as although “I know I can be fast”, he will be “going up against some of the best who’s ever done it”.

“The one thing that I learned, especially in my second year in Indy Nxt, is just that I try to maximise whatever package I have on the weekend. And that being myself and the car. But if I’m only going to be 10th that day, then I’m going to fight like hell trying to be ninth instead of trying to be fifth. So that’s kind of the mindset that I go into next year, just trying to maximise whatever I have.

“Along with learning from this amazing group of people I’m going to be working with, and knowing that that’s basically where most of the speed and I think results are going to come from, just learn from these guys and try to get my own twist on it.”

And “hopefully by the end of the year, we see that I have an improvement and hopefully we can be there to mix it in every once in a while with them”.

IndyCar’s most recent rookies

“Obviously a lot of learning and asking is going to be done in especially the first part of the season. But I know that once I’m comfortable with the car and getting to feel right at home, I know that the results and the speed is going to be there.”

That’s good, because as Chip Ganassi says: “I like winners”. And at the team Lundqvist wants personally “to be in a situation that you’re put under pressure, because it means you usually have the possibility to win”.

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Photo: Penske Entertainment / Chris Jones

Reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist has been signed by Chip Ganassi Racing on a multi-year IndyCar deal.

Lundqvist received a scholarship to step up to IndyCar after taking the 2022 Indy Nxt title with five wins and six poles from 14 races, but he failed to find a seat at the top level of American single-seater racing for 2023.

However earlier this month he finally got a chance to debut in the series when Meyer Shank Racing needed a substitute for the injured Simon Pagenaud. He qualified 11th and took the fastest lap in his first race in Nashville, although did retire, and the team called him up again for the next race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

This time Lundqvist started and finished 12th, and earned himself yet another outing for last weekend’s race on the Gateway oval. He started 12th again, and finished 18th with the fastest lap.

During the event it was rumoured that Lundqvist was in contention to land a seat at the dominant Ganassi team for 2024, and it has now been confirmed that he will be joining them next year as a full-time driver.

“Joining Chip Ganassi Racing is an absolute dream come true for me,” said Lundqvist. “Stepping up to race full-time in the IndyCar series, and to do so with one of the most successful teams in the history of the championship, is the moment I’ve been working for throughout my career. It is hard to explain how much this means to me. I am incredibly grateful to Chip [Ganassi], Mike [Hull] and to everyone who has backed me on this journey, including of course my family.”

He added: “I have dipped my toes into IndyCar racing in recent weeks, which will give me a little bit of a head start going into 2024. Coming up through Indy Nxt has provided me with some important experience that will help me get up to speed.

“Having said that, this is an entirely new challenge as I prepare to join an established top team at the highest level of the sport. I know there is a lot of hard work ahead, but having a team like Ganassi put their trust in me is the greatest motivator I could ever have. I intend to do everything in my power to grab this opportunity and I look forward to all the moments ahead, next year and beyond.”

The team’s managing director Mike Hull commented: “It’s terrific that the opportunity to hire Linus, a proven winner, plus the reigning Indy Nxt champion is now a reality at Chip Ganassi Racing. He has shown that his on-track performance creates the racecraft separation that’s required in IndyCar today. Growing together with Linus is what comes next.”

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Photo: Joe Skibinski

Meyer Shank Racing has called on reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist again to race in IndyCar, with their regular driver Simon Pagenaud still not cleared to return.

Lundqvist will drive the team’s #60 car at the Gateway oval this weekend, having already raced it on the streets of Nashville and on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

He qualified 11th for his IndyCar debut in Nashville, and ran as high as third and took the fastest lap of the race before crashing out. At IMS he qualified 14th and went on to finish 12th.

MSR had called upon Conor Daly to stand in for the concussed Pagenaud in the oval races prior to that, but last week Daly joined Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and that increased Lundqvist’s chances of being back in the cockpit this weekend.

“I’m extremely happy to be joining MSR again in St. Louis this weekend,” said Lundqvist. “The last few weekends in Nashville and Indy have been the time of my life and I can’t wait to continue to work with this team.

“We’ve been through some challenging race formats; a street course in Nashville, a road course at Indy, and now an oval in St. Louis. There will be a lot to learn once again.”

Lundqvist has driven an Indy car on an oval before, having tested for RLLR at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

“No doubt it’s going to be tough and tricky, but I know the team will give me a good car,” Lundqvist added. “We’re aiming for another solid result, building on what we achieved at Indy. I’m also very much looking forward to working with Helio as a team-mate. Working with him on an oval is something that every driver would want to do and I’m just going to learn from it as much as I can this weekend.”

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Photo: Travis Hinkle

Reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist will make his second IndyCar start in the Gallagher Grand Prix on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course this weekend.

The 24-year-old has been called up by Meyer Shank Racing, who handed the Swede his IndyCar debut in last weekend’s Music City Grand Prix.

As in that race, he will be standing in for Simon Pagenaud who has not been medically cleared to race by the series. Lundqvist qualified 11th for his IndyCar debut, ran as high as third and took the fastest lap of the race before crashing out.

“First I want to say a massive thank you to Mike [Shank] and Jim [Meyer] for their trust to put me back in the car again. The Nashville weekend was great in so many ways,” said Lundqvist.

“Obviously, a lot of impressions and a lot of new stuff for me going on that weekend and I was pretty disappointed with the way that it ended. It was my mistake and I enjoyed it up until that point. I think it also left me and the team wanting more, which I am grateful for another opportunity at Indy.

“I know it is going to be tough again, but now I have a whole race weekend under my belt. Hopefully we can string some good results together and find some good speed, but I feel like it is going to be a super weekend.”

There is two weeks following the Gallagher GP before the next IndyCar race on the Gateway oval. It is unclear whether Pagenaud’s recovery will enable a return to the cockpit by then, and Lundqvist will be looking to impress the team again to make sure his name is in contention if a replacement is sought once more.

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Photo: James Black

Reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist will make his IndyCar debut in this week’s Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.

It is unusual for an Indy Nxt champion to wait this late into the year before appearing on the IndyCar grid, as for a long time the series had a prize money system that guaranteed the champion at least three starts including the Indianapolis 500.

But last year IndyCar’s owner Penske Entertainment took over Indy Nxt, and drastically reduced the size of the prize pot for the champion. Lundqvist could not make the step up with the money he had, and this year has made two test outings as well as spending a weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia to stay race sharp.

The 24-year-old Swede will make his IndyCar debut with Meyer Shank Racing, taking over the car of Simon Pagenaud who has not been medically cleared to return to the cockpit following a crash at Mid-Ohio at the start of this month.

“This is a moment I’ve been dreaming of literally since the start of my career,” said Lundqvist. “I could not be more excited about the prospect of finally making my IndyCar debut; I am extremely grateful to MSR for this opportunity.

“This will be an incredible experience but also the toughest challenge of my life. Sitting on the sidelines all year, it would be a massive task to join any championship toward the end of the season – let alone the IndyCar series on the streets of Nashville.

“There’s been very little time to prepare, but I feel like the sheer excitement of this moment will make up for some of that.”

Lundqvist will be team-mate to Helio Castroneves, who has 25 IndyCar wins to his name and is currently 20th in the standings. “Of course working alongside Helio – one of the true legends of this sport – will also be a huge asset.”

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Photo: IndyCar

Reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist completed his third IndyCar test outing at Sebring on Thursday, as he continues his search for a seat in the series.

Lundqvist’s first test came with Andretti Autosport in October 2021 on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, as a prize from Indy Nxt for finishing third in the standings that year.

He won the title with HMD Motorsports last season, but an adjustment to the series’ prize structure contributed to Lundqvist missing out on an IndyCar seat for 2023, and he could not find a professional drive in another series.

However he has back on track this April as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing provided him with his first experience of driving IndyCar’s Dallara IR18 car in oval spec at Texas Motor Speedway, then Andretti chose him for the Formula E rookie test in Berlin.

Lundqvist impressed RLLR’s co-owner Bobby Rahal and at the time was in a position where information about his 2023 racing plans would “be announced shortly”. That turned out to be a Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia outing scheduled for the end of this month, but Lundqvist’s latest IndyCar test could open more doors in America.

“Had a great test at Sebring yesterday with ECR. Super happy and thankful to them for letting me back into an Indycar, which is always a lot, a lot of fun,” the 24-year-old Swede said to Formula Scout.

“Obviously it was very hard yesterday, we got a bit of a rain shower around lunchtime. But everything went through smoothly, we ran through the set-up programme that they wanted to try out. Which was fun to be part of and hopefully they learned a little bit from it.

“And yeah, hopefully I’ll be back, sometime soon, for a test, for a race, whatever it might be. Full focus is still for me to be in a position where I can be in IndyCar full-time in 2024, and obviously every opportunity that I get to be in a car, I’m going to take it. Happy and thankful to Ed and the whole team for this opportunity, and hope to be back soon.”

IndyCar inexperience may be less of a disadvantage in 2024, as the series plans to bring in an updated car that will utilise hybrid technology. The driver market is already in full swing at the top and the bottom of the grid too, meaning it could be crucial to land in the right place at the right time with negotiations this summer.

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Photo: Chris Owens

Indy Nxt held its first oval test of the season today at Iowa Speedway, while its reigning champion and one of its current drivers were in an IndyCar test.

Iowa features on the Indy Nxt schedule in late July as the first of two oval races on the calendar, and in this Thursday’s test day it was HMD Motorsports’ Christian Rasmussen who set the pace.

Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel was his closest rival, with HMD’s Danial Frost and Andretti Autosport duo James Roe Jr and Hunter McElrea completing the top five.

Absent from the test was HMD’s Toby Sowery, although he is not currently set to contest the two oval races this season anyway, as he was at Sebring getting his first ever taste of IndyCar with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“Going straight from race to a test that we don’t normally do, it’s exciting,” said Sowery, who last weekend was racing in Detroit for his part-time Indy Nxt campaign.

“I can’t wait to get going. I’m loving the opportunity. I’ve got to thank RLLR for giving me that. Driving the car, I can’t complain, can I?”

He added: “There’s a lot more open-mindedness of this test than like a strict regime for a race event. In those terms, it’s good. But a lot of fitness, physical and mental preparation for it. These opportunities don’t come around a lot of time, so making the most of it.”

Sowery came third in Indy Nxt in 2019, spent 2020 on the sidelines due to the series being called off during the COVID-19 pandemic, then came ninth in a part-time 2021 campaign which he ended early to switch focus to IndyCar.

However an opportunity at the top level did not arise, until know, and the clashing commitments of another driver brought him back to the Indy Nxt grid on an occasional basis for 2023 after another year spent mostly out of the cockpit.

Another driver who has been waiting for his chance to race in IndyCar is reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist, who has already had a few test outings and was running alongside Sowery on track as Sebring as he tested with Ed Carpenter Racing.

Lundqvist was called up for the test prior to Conor Daly being dropped from his ECR seat, but the Swede missed out on replacing him as the team was quick to announce 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay in Daly’s place.

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Photo: Joe Skibinski & Red Bull

Andretti has announced Zane Maloney and Linus Lundqvist as its drivers for the Formula E rookie test that will take place on April 24th at Tempelhof circuit following the Berlin E-Prix.

Maloney competes in Formula 2 with Rodin Carlin, where he sits eighth in the standings three rounds into the season. The Red Bull junior became Formula 3 vice-champion driving for Trident in 2022, with three feature race victories in the last three rounds. In 2019, he was crowned British F4 champion with Carlin.

Lundqvist is currently without a drive for the 2023 season despite claiming the Indy Lights title in 2022 with HMD Motorsports. Previously, he had become 2020 Formula Regional Americas champion with Global Racing Group and 2018 BRDC British F3 champion with Double R Racing. The Swede conducted an oval IndyCar test with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at Texas Motor Speedway on April 3rd.

Berlin’s rookie test will be both drivers’ first taste of FE machinery.

“I’m very excited to be part of the Berlin Rookie Test with Andretti Formula E,” Maloney said in a team statement. “Driving in Formula E is going to be a new experience for me so I’m very grateful for this opportunity and would like to thank everyone at Andretti for making this possible. I will be trying to learn as much as I can during this test and gain some beneficial experience in the Gen3 car.”

Lundqvist said: “Big thanks to Michael Andretti, JF Thormann, Roger Griffiths and everyone at Andretti for this amazing opportunity. I’m super excited and grateful for the occasion.

“It will be great to experience a completely new car and series that I’ve not driven in before. I know it’s going to be very different to anything I’ve done before, but I’m doing my best to be as prepared as possible to have a successful test with the Andretti Formula E team. I can’t wait to get going!”

Andretti Formula E team principal Roger Griffinths welcomed Maloney and Lundqvist into the team and stated that “both drivers have shown themselves to be highly competitive in their relative endeavors and represent some exciting new talent.

“Having the rookie test is fundamentally important for raising the potential and possibility of bringing new driver talent to the FIA Formula E Championship. Formula E has fast gained status within the motorsport world as being a very competitive championship and that makes it very attractive to up-and-coming drivers.

“It makes sense to have the test at the iconic Berlin-Tempelhof circuit immediately after the race weekend as we will have gathered a lot of data to be able support both drivers with. Zane and Linus will be with us for the duration of the race weekend, so we’re looking forward to integrating them into the team so they can understand how we both prepare for and operate over a race weekend.”

David Beckmann and Yifei Ye will also participate in the test with Porsche, while Jack Aitken will take to the track with Envision Racing.

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Photo: Penske Entertainment

Reigning Indy Nxt champion Linus Lundqvist completed his first IndyCar oval test on Monday at Texas Motor Speedway, and impressed the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team he was driving for.

An adjustment to Indy Nxt’s prize structure contributed to Lundqvist missing out on an IndyCar seat for this year, and he could not find a professional drive elsewhere before the racing seasons begun.

His first IndyCar test came with Andretti Autosport in October 2021 on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, as a prize from Indy Nxt for finishing third in the standings that year.

“Wow, my first time ever going this fast and what a feeling,” Lundqvist said after his first run at Texas yesterday.

“It’s so difficult to describe. I’m not going to lie, the first couple of laps it almost made you sick with the speed and the banking before the body and the head got used to it. But now we’re flatout, back on the programme, trying a couple of things, and hopefully we can help these guys out for the Indy 500.”

Following his second run in the afternoon, he added: “What a place, what a day it has been. Absolutely amaazing. Going around at 220mph, there’s not a lot of people that can say that they’ve done that. Super happy, super poud of the day.”

“We’ve been quick from the get-go basically, which has been nice. Been through a lot of testing items, which has been cool to be a part of as well. Got to say a massive thank you to the guys and gals at Rahal for making this possible and making the day go through so smoothly. Hopefully I can be back with them soon again.”

Lundqvist did almost 250 laps – the distance of the previous day’s IndyCar race – around the high-banked intermediate 1.5-mile speedway and was driving the car usually raced by Linus Lundqvist.

“Linus did a lot of running and that’s what it was all about, just giving him time in the car,” said RLLR co-owner Bobby Rahal.

“We weren’t necessarily looking for a top speed but we did find a lot of good things at the test that would have made us more competitive the prior day.

“Texas is one hell of a race track to get your first oval test in an Indy car at and Linus didn’t make any mistakes. He did a good job and I’m pleased for him. Our guys were pleased as well, so all in all a great experience for everyone.”

According to Lundqvist, information about his 2023 racing plans “will be announced shortly”.

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