senor honda

[h=2]Andretti confirms Chevy talks[/h] Monday, 17 July 2017


By Marshall Pruett & Robin Miller / Images by Jake Galstad/LAT, Phil Abbott/LAT & Michael Levitt/LAT

Which engine partner will have Michael Andretti's coveted Verizon IndyCar Series team in its camp next season? Rumors of a possible switch to Chevy, where Andretti Autosport spent 2012-'13, have grown since June. With its fourth year as key member of the Honda family almost complete, and the season finale in Sonoma getting closer, Andretti says a change is under consideration.
"Yes, we've talked them to them and I owe it to my team and sponsors to listen to what they have to say," he told RACER. "We had a great relationship with Chevrolet before but I haven't made any decision yet."
If a change from Honda to Chevy does take place, it could solve multiple issues for both parties.










With the move by Chip Ganassi Racing from Chevy to Honda at the end of 2016, IndyCar's competitive balance tipped in favor of Honda. Without Ganassi and its four cars, Chevy has been reduced to two strong teams and six solid entries.
Ed Carpenter Racing, with its two full-time cars, and Team Penske, with its four entries and the 2016 IndyCar title in its possession, have been the Bowtie's only answer to Honda's strength in numbers. A.J. Foyt Racing, the third and final member of the Chevy rotation, has made no impact whatsoever in the Drivers' or Manufacturers' championship.
Along with Andretti's four-car Honda fleet, Ganassi's four, two each from Dale Coyne Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, and one from Rahal Letterman Lanigan have provided the California-based Honda Performance Development incredible depth.
Compared to Chevy, where only Penske has won races this year, all five of Honda's teams have earned at least one victory, including the Indy 500, which was secured by Andretti's Takuma Sato.
Left to fight five winning Honda teams with only two serious contenders, it's easy to see how Chevy would take interest in the scale of Andretti's IndyCar four-car operation. Add in the team's amazing run of success at the Indy 500, where its drivers have won three of the last four races for Honda, and Andretti Autosport is a natural target for an approach by Chevy.
With Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti added to the stable alongside Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter, and others that could use Chevy power within the Andretti/Carpenter/Penske family, the General Motors brand would have a formidable roster.
History between Andretti and Chevy would also bolster any suggestions of a pending union.
Andretti was one of Chevy's original teams at the onset of the new 2012 IndyCar formula; Andretti's Hunter-Reay also earned his first IndyCar championship that year (pictured) while representing the brand. The team left Chevy for Honda in 2014, with whom Hunter-Reay won his first Indy 500. Andretti's Alexander Rossi took the 2016 Indy 500 in his combined Andretti-Herta entry, and Sato brought yet another win for Andretti-Honda in May.
The return of Ganassi to Honda, after it left in 2014 for Chevy, has also had an adverse effect on Andretti Autosport, which served as Honda's leading multi-car team until Scott Dixon and his CGR teammates began using HPD's engines and aero kits this season. With Dixon presently leading the championship, and Sato down in seventh as the top Andretti representative, the power dynamic within the Honda teams has shifted to CGR.
The unmistakable absence of primary sponsorship across many of Andretti's Indy cars has also raised questions as to whether signing a new and possibly lucrative agreement with Chevy would improve the bottom line.
With Marco Andretti's car carrying the American flag on its sidepods at Iowa, Sato's car continuing to wear the #CheckIt4Andretti colon cancer awareness hashtag, and Rossi's car promoting ShopAndretti.com on its sidepods, only Hunter-Reay's DHL-sponsored entry was linked to an external business. At last weekend's race in Toronto, Andretti's entry wore branding from United Fiber and Data while the entries for Rossi and Sato (pictured) lacked major corporate backing.
If Andretti were to rejoin Chevy, Honda's Sato and the rumored $2 million in sponsorship plus free engines he brings, would be on the market for 2018. The same situation took place late last year when Foyt left Honda for Chevy and the Japanese driver was forced to find a new home. If Sato is gone, would Andretti and Chevy look to hire a free agent to take the fourth seat, or would it look outside the IndyCar paddock for solutions? And where would the reigning Indy 500 winner land within the Honda landscape?
Ganassi could have one or more vacancies. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' second entry could be open. Would Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing consider a second go-round with Taku?
Of all the silly season dominoes to fall, if Andretti Autosport chooses Chevy, a big wave of movement could be set in motion.