Ganassi to go from 5 to 3 cars in 2025

It's downsizing time at Chip Ganassi's stable! After parting ways with Cadillac in IMSA and WEC, and therefore no longer having a presence in these two championships for the moment, one of the flagship teams of American motorsport will also reduce its sails in IndyCar. It will in fact only line up three cars in the single-seater championship next year, compared to five this year.

As Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Taylor Kiel explained to racer.com, this decision comes mainly because of the adoption, for next season, of a franchise system by IndyCar. In this system, only three cars per team could be guaranteed to participate in all races, outside of the Indianapolis 500. Add to this the current "Leaders Circle" rules, which offer the first 22 cars in the championship a bonus of more than a million dollars, but which again only includes three cars per team, the last two single-seaters of Ganassi would find themselves at best battling with those of Prema for two places on the grid every weekend, and with no possibility of financing other than by sponsors at the end of the season.

« The most important thing for us is that we have a lot of very competent people and we are reducing our workforce. We are losing the IMSA program with Cadillac, and this franchise system requires us to have three cars, so first of all we are trying to figure out what to do with our good elements.", Kiel explained.

Lundqvist in unfavorable ballot

The path that seems to have been retained by Ganassi at first is to launch an Indy NXT team, the IndyCar equivalent of the Formula 2 in Europe. This will allow the mechanics and engineers already in place to continue working in the IndyCar paddock, and it will also allow the team to detect young talents, in a championship in which the competition continues to improve.

The two cars that will be affected by the IndyCar restructuring will be Marcus Armstrong's No. 11, which was first launched in 2023, and Kyffin Simpson's No. 4, which is making its debut this year. That leaves Linus Lundqvist's No. 8, Scott Dixon's No. 9 and the No. 10 of championship leader Álex Palou, who will be looking for his third title next week. There should be some change in those seats, though, with Dixon and Palou confirmed for 2025, with Lundqvist likely to make way for Simpson, who brings with him a substantial budget, having single-handedly funded the No. 8 this year.

The most serious option for the Swedish rookie with two podiums would be a return to Meyer Shank Racing, with whom he competed in several races in 2023, following the injury of simon pagenaud.

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