Chip Ganassi Racing will run Honda engines in the 2017 IndyCar season as the team returns after a three-year stint with Chevrolet.
Two of the Big Three teams in IndyCar are now Honda organizations, as Chip Ganassi Racing confirmed on Monday the rumors that it’s changing manufacturers beginning with the 2017 season.
CGR announced on Friday that it would end its three-year relationship with Chevrolet and return to Honda in a multi-year deal “for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season and beyond,” according to league reports.
Ganassi was previously a Honda IndyCar team from 2008 to 2011, and before that in CART including four straight championship seasons from 1996 to 1999.
“We’ve had a long and successful relationship with Honda over the years and we look forward to getting it back on track,” Chip Ganassi said in a statement.
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“I feel a little like I am going home after having previously spent 12 years with them. Much of our organization’s success has been with Honda power in our cars, so we are all very excited.”
His team’s move leaves Team Penske as the only major IndyCar squad running Chevrolet engines, as Andretti Autosport also runs for Honda.
So do Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Dale Coyne Racing.
Obviously a manufacturer switch is not something that Ganassi or any motorsports team would decide upon lightly. If they’re making the return to Honda it’s because that’s what they feel will give them a better chance to win next year and in the years after.
And with IndyCar teams going to a universal aero kit beginning in 2018 the organization will presumably not have to worry about the competition problems that have plagued Honda for the last two seasons.
But it’s worth noting that Chevrolet has won the Manufacturer’s Championship for the last five consecutive seasons – every year since they returned to IndyCar. They have had a clear advantage, and that shouldn’t be dismissed either.
So the move isn’t without risk, yet will it help Ganassi return to the top of the league after what some considered a down season with the team’s drivers finishing sixth, seventh and nineteenth overall?
2017 will now be looked upon as a year of change at CGR. Scott Dixon is the only driver currently confirmed to return for next season; both Tony Kanaan and Max Chilton had their contracts end after the season finale last month, though each are interested in returning and Chilton has been rumored to be working on a multi-year deal.
And aside from the switch between engine manufacturers, Dixon’s No. 9 entry will look majorly different as his primary sponsor Target ended its involvement in IndyCar following the 2016 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. CGR has yet to announce a new sponsor for the car.
What do you think about Chip Ganassi Racing’s return to Honda?
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