The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series is set to be the 111th official championship season of American open wheel racing and the 27th season under IndyCar Series sanction.
The premier event will be the 2022 Indianapolis 500.
It will be the third year under Penske management after they took over in late 2019.
The season will begin February 27th with a 10-bell salute to Al Unser at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Background
Álex Palou enters the season as the reigning 2021 Indycar Series champion.
Palou won three races in 2021.
Hélio Castroneves is the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, beginning his first full-time season in Indycar since 2017.
2022 is scheduled to be the final season for the 2.2-litre V6 twin-turbocharged engine package that debuted in 2012.
A new 2.4-liter V6 twin-turbocharged hybrid engine formula is set to be introduced in 2023, integrated into Indycar's current spec-series Dallara chassis.
Confirmed entries
The following teams, entries, and drivers have been announced to compete in the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season.
All teams use a spec Dallara IR18 chassis with universal aero kit and Firestone tires.
Driver changes
On July 22, 2021, Meyer Shank Racing announced that the defending and four-time overall Indianapolis 500 winner Hélio Castroneves will drive the No. 06 entry full-time in the 2022 season and Jack Harvey will not return to drive the No. 60 entry.
Harvey had raced with the team since the 2017 season.
This will be Castroneves's first full-time Indycar season since driving for Team Penske in 2017, when he won at Iowa Speedway.
On September 14, 2021, it was announced that Ryan Hunter-Reay will not return to Andretti Autosport after 12 seasons with the team.
On September 24, 2021, it was announced that Romain Grosjean will drive the No. 28 entry for Andretti Autosport full-time in the 2022 season.
On September 27, 2021, it was announced that Simon Pagenaud will drive the No. 60 entry for Meyer Shank Racing full-time in 2022, parting ways with Team Penske after seven seasons.
On October 5, 2021, it was announced that Takuma Sato will not return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing after driving with the team for five seasons in 2012 and from 2018-2021.
On October 11, 2021, it was announced that Jack Harvey will drive the No. 45 entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing full-time in the 2022 season, with backing from HyVee.
On October 19, 2021, Sébastien Bourdais announced that he would not be returning as a full-time driver for A. J. Foyt Enterprises after signing a deal to drive full-time with Chip Ganassi Racing's IMSA team, however he stated he was still negotiating a possible part-time effort with the team.
On October 20, 2021, it was announced that Christian Lundgaard will drive the No. 30 entry for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing full-time in the 2022 season, having signed a multi-year agreement.
On November 4, 2021, it was announced Devlin DeFrancesco will drive the No. 29 entry for Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport.
He will replace the outgoing James Hinchcliffe.
On November 10, 2021, A. J. Foyt Enterprises announced that reigning Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood would join the team for the full season in the no. 14 car, replacing Sébastien Bourdais.
For winning the 2021 Indy Lights title, Kirkwood received a scholarship to partake in at least three rounds of the championship, including the Indianapolis 500.
On December 9, 2021, it was announced that two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato will join Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing for the 2022 season and will drive the No. 51 entry replacing Romain Grosjean.
On December 14, 2021, James Hinchcliffe announced that he will step back from full-time competition in the IndyCar Series.
On December 15, 2021, Jimmie Johnson announced that he will drive full-time for Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2022 season.
Team changes
Meyer Shank Racing is set to expand to two full-time entries.
Juncos Racing will return to the IndyCar Series for the first time since the 2019 Indianapolis 500.
Team owner Ricardo Juncos has formed a partnership with Brad Hollinger to create Juncos Hollinger Racing and having competed in the final three rounds of 2021, the team will race full time in 2022 with Callum Ilott.
Arrow McLaren SP announced on August 8, 2021, that McLaren Racing had purchased a 75% majority ownership stake in the team, effective after the 2021 season.
Since 2020, McLaren and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports had operated a joint entry with the former having no stake in the team.
As part of this announcement, McLaren CEO Zak Brown also confirmed that drivers Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist would be returning to the team for the 2022 season.
With the addition of Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will expand to three full-time entries in the 2022 season.
After running four full-time entries in the 2021 season, Team Penske owner Roger Penske confirmed that the team will downsize to three full-time entries for the 2022 season.
On November 4, 2021, Chip Ganassi Racing confirmed it would field a fifth car at the Indianapolis 500 for Jimmie Johnson.
Vasser Sullivan Racing will end their partnership with Dale Coyne Racing after five seasons together.
After running one entry in the 2021 Indianapolis 500, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will field two entries in the 2022 Indianapolis 500 with Santino Ferrucci and Sage Karam.
Dale Coyne Racing will form a partnership with HMD Motorsports with 2021 Indy Lights runner-up David Malukas as their driver.
Schedule
Schedule changes
On August 19, 2021, it was confirmed that the Iowa Speedway would return to the schedule.
On September 19, 2021, the full schedule was released.
The changes included Texas and Detroit becoming single races, rather than doubleheaders, and a return to Toronto, having been removed from both the 2020 and the 2021 schedules due to travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
St Petersburg was returned to the opening race of the season and will be run in February, marking the earliest season start since 2000.
Texas was moved to the 2nd race of the season, due to be held on March 20.
Long Beach returned to its traditional date in April, having been moved to September the previous season.
On November 3, 2021, the Detroit City Council and Penske Entertainment reached an agreement to move the Detroit Grand Prix back to the downtown streets around The Renaissance Center, making the 2022 event the final time IndyCar will race at Belle Isle.
See also
2022 Indy Lights
2022 Indy Pro 2000 Championship
2022 U.S. F2000 National Championship
Footnotes
References
Sources
External links
IndyCar Series Category:IndyCar Series seasons IndyCar Series
