Tag: Charlie Kimball

Kimball in Third Foyt Car at Long Beach

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Indycar photo

The third Foyt entry for Long Beach ensures at least 27 cars for the season finale. The announcement from Indycar:

Charlie Kimball will return to the cockpit of the No. 11 Tresiba Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing on Sept. 24-26 at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the season finale of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.“I cannot wait to get back behind the wheel of an AJ Foyt Indy car mostly because I love racing,” Kimball said. “I am also excited to race on behalf of my longtime sponsor Novo Nordisk one more time this season at one of my favorite races. Working with the team at AJ Foyt Racing, both in and out of the cockpit, has been very rewarding, and I look forward to continuing that work in Long Beach.”Kimball last competed for AJ Foyt Racing in the GMR Grand Prix on May 15 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, finishing 22nd. An attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 was unsuccessful. In 2020, Kimball drove full time for the team, scoring a season-best finish of eighth in October at St. Petersburg, Florida.“We are very happy to have Charlie and Novo Nordisk back for the season finale,” said Larry Foyt, team president. “Long Beach is such a great race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and I’m glad we could put this event together for Charlie and Novo Nordisk because they have been great partners of our team. They have touched many lives and inspired many race fans through the motorsports platform, and I’m honored that our team was able to be a small part of that.”Kimball will join full-time drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Dalton Kellett in the Foyt lineup at Long Beach.Being able to wrap up the season in Long Beach holds special significance for Kimball, who grew up 75 miles from the Southern California city in Camarillo, California. He last raced on the picturesque street circuit in 2018 for Carlin Racing, finishing 10th.“Long Beach is my favorite event outside of the Indy 500,” Kimball said. “I spent my childhood coming to this race and dreaming about being on the other side of the fence. The chance to compete at this track, so close to my hometown, three and a half years since my last time behind the wheel there has been one of my biggest personal motivators.”Kimball has stayed busy this season as the color commentator for the Indy Lights telecasts.Live coverage of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Sept. 26 on NBCSN and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Kimball Joins Foyt for May in Indy

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Photo of Charlie Kimball by Joe Skibinski, Indycar

Charlie Kimball will return to A. J. Foyt Racing for two races in 2021, entering the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 15 and the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 May 30. Kimball brings his Tresiba sponsorship to car number 11 this season.

In a full time ride with Foyt in 2020, Kimball had best finish of eighth in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg finale. He ended 2020 18th in the final standings. The COVID-disrupted scheduled cost Kimball and the team valuable input from Sebastien Bourdais, who was cheduled to begin the year with Foyt and help get the cars set up. Bourdais is with the team full time for the new season.

Kimball will be attempting to qualify for his 11th 500 mile race. In 2020 he finished 18th after starting 29th. He finished third in 2015 and fifth in 2016 and has two other top 10 results in the 500.

Today’s announcement brings the confirmed entry list for the Indianapolis 500 to 28. Dale Coyne with Rick Ware Racing should announce their two drivers fo May, which raises the total to 30. Getting to 33 should not be an issue. I’ll discuss the field and possible entries more next week.

In a teleconference this afternoon, Larry Foyt said he was happy to get to work with Kimball again.

“Charlie was awesome to work with last year. We know Charlie and we trust Charlie.”

KImball hopes to build on how last season ended with Foyt.

“The results at St. Pete showed the progress we made as a team. We hope to be able to build on results of that last race.”

Kimball added, “I’m very comfortable heading back to Foyt. I feel I have unfinished business. We have built a solid foundation”

Kimball regrets that series races at long Beach and Toronto were cancelled last season.

Foyt said there are no plans to run a full time third car in 2021.

“We’d love to have Charlie full time, but going to 3 full time cars would have to be a really good situation. We are just focused on results this year.”

In the past few years, Foyt said the team has had ” too many changes, no consistency in drivers or engineers. I feel like its all headed in the right direction now. The Indycar field is really strong. Getting top 5s and top 10s is the goal.”

 

 

 

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Indycar field is really strong. getting top 5s and top 10s is the goal.

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Foyt Looking to Reset with Kimball

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Photo from Charlie Kimball’s Twitter page

“Let’s hit the reset button,” Larry Foyt said, We want our effort to start showing results.”

Foyt explained one of the reasons the team signed Charlie Kimball for the full season ride in their car number 4 for 2020. He is impressed with the feedback Kimball provides. “I enjoyed the challenge of bringing my Indycar experience to Carlin,” Kimball said. He hopes to do the same thing at A. J. Foyt Racing.

Kimbal is looking forward to running a full season after a brief part time stint with Carlin in 2019.  “I would not have survived a,a,partial schedule again. It was really tough on me watching races from the sideline,” he said.

“Running a full schedule allows me to stay in rhythm,” Kimball added. He said he felt other drivers were ahead of him when he drove since they were driving every race.

Kimball thanked his sponsor Novo Nordisk, his sponsor for the last twelve years. The company which has been with Kimball since his Indy Lights days will be the primary sponsor for six races during the upcoming season.

Foyt said last year the team went the wrong direction on dampers. “Our setups showed well off the track, but they didn’t work when the track changed. Our setups weren’t working with the dampers.” He hopes Kimball’s mechanical feedback can help point the team in the correct direction.

Team goals for 2020 are second round qualifying on road and street courses and fighting for the top 10 in the championship. Kimball sees no reason the team can’t qualify in the top 12 at Indianapolis or perhaps be in the Fast 9.

Foyt said the number 14 car is a “work in progress.” An announcement may come in a couple of weeks. Asked about Tony Kanaan, Foyt answered, I’m sure he will be part of the team.”

Thoughts

Whatever some may think of Kimball’s driving ability, I have to tip my hat to any driver who runs a partial season after being a full time driver then bounces back with a full time ride the following season. That doesn’t happen very often.I’m not su

Kimball Has a decent record in the Indianapolis 500 with four top 10 finishes in nine races. He was third in 2015 and fifth in 2016. Foyt’s cars have run well at IMS. This could be an interesting combination in May.

I think Foyt’s team goals will be difficult to achieve. The top 10 is a tough club to break into. I could see some good results and some road/street qualifying success, but I’m not sure we’ll see the consistency he’s looking for this year. His goals are admirable and I hope the team gets a sniff of them.

Rumors are that the 14 car will be shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Dalton Kellett, and Tony Kanaan. Kanaan is slated for the ovals, I’m hearing. Kimball will need to provide strong feedback to the drivers, especially the rookie Kellett.

The Foyt cars may be hard to spot for a couple races without the familiar ABC Supply Co. logos. I’m glad they will return for the Indianapolis 500. Iwill misss them the rest of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carlin Announces Chilton Full Time; Kimball Will Run Partial Schedule

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Carlin Racing today confirmed Max Chilton will return as driver of the number 59 car for the 2019 NTT Indycar Series.  The announcement had been expected for quite a while. This will be Chilton’s fourth year driving the Gallagher car. He raced out of the Chip Ganassi Racing team in 2016 and 2017 before moving with teammate Charlie Kimball to Carl;in’s new entry last year.

“I couldn’t be happier to formally announce that Gallagher will be back for the 2019 season partnering with myself and Carlin. Gallagher and Carlin are like family to me and I’m excited to see what we can do together building on both partnerships,” said Chilton. “Our first year together as an IndyCar team had its ups and downs, but the potential and growth that we showed as a team was obvious to everyone. I want to say a massive thank you to Gallagher for their continuing support of me. To have the opportunity to represent the nearly 30,000 employees of Gallagher, a brand that focuses so heavily on teamwork and innovation, is a true privilege.”

Kimball, meanwhile will be back with long time sponsor Novo Nordisk on a part time schedule. His races weren’t confirmed yet. My guess is his schedule will include the Indianapolis 500, Laguna Seca, Mid Ohio, and  one of the March/ April races.  I’m not sure how many Kimball will run. I had heard he had a 70% budget, which would mean he would run about 12 events.

Carlin will have another driver fill in for the remaining to complete the entire schedule. R. C Enerson has tested with the team.

I thought last year it was a bold move for Carlin to plunge into Indycar full time with two cars. They did manage a couple of top 10s. They should see improved resulkts this season.

Tomorrow morning Meyer Shank Racing will announce Jack Harvey’s 10 race schedule for the Indycar season. Watch this spot for news of that announcement tomorrow afternoon.

The Day in Photos; Pit Lane Parley Comes to IMS

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As promised (threatened?) Herb are some photos from practice Tuesday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Enjoy.  Practice resumed after an approximately 45 minute hold for impending weather. Practice resumed at 4:50 pm.

 

Pit Lane Parley Live at Indy

Pit Lane Parley will record two weekly podcasts and perhaps some other features from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the 500 approaches. I will post when their shows will be recorded. Pit Lane Parley broadcasts live on wildfireradioesports.com every Friday at 3:15 pm EDT. You can listen to the podcasts on Podbean as well. Mike, Jess, and occasional host Matt provide excellent insight on Indycar. Guests this season have included Jay Frye, Stefan Wilson, David Byrd, and Brian Belardi.

Season Preview, Part 1- New Teams Hope New Aero Package Levels the Field

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New teams, new drivers, new sponsors, and a new aero package are ready. The fans are more than ready. The 2018 Indycar season starts Friday when practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg begins.

In a three part series, I take a look at each team and make some predictions for the year.

Today I focus on the new teams. In all parts of this preview, team order is random and is not intended to be a prediction of season long results.

Michael Shank Racing

It has been a long road to Indycar for Michael Shank, beginning last year with the Indianapolis 500. Jack Harvey drives the Shank car, which has a technical partnership with Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports. The team has scheduled 6 races this year so far. Harvey will drive at St. Pete, Long Beach, The 500, Mid-Ohio, Portland, and Sonoma. The team may add a couple more races. This will be an interesting team to watch. They might be able to grab a couple of top 10s, but I see them using this season to learn and build.

Juncos Racing

Ricardo Juncos may be pioneering the model for future Indycar teams. Juncos has been a long time steady participant in the Mazda Road to Indy, winning the 2017 Indy Lights championship with Kyle Kaiser. Kaiser and the team both move to Indycar this year. Juncos has eight scheduled races this year. Kaiser will drive in four, and newcomer Rene Binder will drive the other four. There is hope to add some more outings for Kaiser, the team’s primary driver.

Binder will open the season at St. Pete, then race at Barber, Toronto, and Mid-Ohio. Kaiser debuts at Phoenix, then goes to Long Beach, and finishes the season at Indianapolis, driving in the GP of Indy and the 500. The hope is to add more races for Kaiser. I hope that happens because he needs more seat time and needs to have races deeper into the season.

I think this team will struggle to get results, but they will build a solid foundation for the following years. Juncos still has a presence in the Mazda Road to Indy with Victor Franzoni headlining their Indy Lights program.

Carlin Racing

It was just a matter of time before Carlin moved to Indycar. After a successful two years in Indy Lights, including the 2016 championship with Ed Jones, they become a two car team with former Ganassi drivers Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton. Carlin knows how to run races and their two drivers have Indycar experience.

Chilton is still learning the craft and showed improvement last year. Kimball is at a crossroads. Were his problems last season a part of being on Ganassi’s B team? This will be a pivotal year for him.

I think they will have some good results and will end up in the upper half of the field.

Harding Racing

A three race toe dip last season and now Harding is a full time entry with Gabby Chaves. In their brief time last year the team produced two top 10s and was running at the finish of every race. Chaves is a steady driver. The team strengthened their leadership hiring Brian Barnhart as president and Al Unser, Jr. as driving coach. That experience alone gives them a bit of an edge over the other new teams. Look for a consistent season with some very good results on occasion. Harding could be the best of the newcomers.

Tomorrow-

A. j. Foyt Racing, Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan, Schmidt Peterson Racing, and Ed Carpenter Racing