Michael Andretti: IndyCar should adopt IMSA GTP rules for engine to entice manufacturers
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Frustrated with its lack of return on investment in recent years, while sponsoring three or four races a year and spending untold millions on an elongated, several-times-delayed hybrid engine system launch, Honda Racing Corp. USA suggested in December that IndyCar explore a cheaper, more streamlined rules package to help entice it to stay beyond 2026.
Michael Andretti, the eternal optimist and big-thinker he is, thinks Penske Entertainment should go in a completely opposite direction.
A third engine manufacturer? Andretti thinks Roger Penske, Mark Miles and Jay Frye should be courting Nos. 3, 4 and 5 at the same time. And he thinks he has the plan to do it.
“You’ve got to start thinking bigger,” Andretti told a small group of reporters Friday at St. Pete, part of a sit-down where he suggest Penske ramp up his investment in the sport, or sell it. “I think we should go adopt the IMSA (Grand Touring Prototype) rules and build a racecar around that. Then, manufacturers can divide their (development) budget in half.
“You keep the rules exactly the same, and now, you can be in two series for the price of almost one. I think there’s something to that, and I’m pushing for it cause I really believe that if you want to build this series for the future, we’ve got to build a rules package that makes sense to entice more than three OEMs, and this is one way. Why, if you’re doing IMSA, wouldn’t you do IndyCar too, if you’re going to have exactly the same rules?”
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One of the biggest downsides to IMSA’s GTP racing product is its ‘balance of power’ formula, where not only are the engines built by different manufacturers, but the chassis are, too. In order to try and keep one car-and-engine package from throttling the rest of the field, the series has the cars run a preseason test, gauges where they stack up and then implements various limits or changes to their weight and maximum horsepower, among other things, to try and bring the field together.
Under Andretti’s idea, which would still include a single-make chassis like IndyCar has had from Dallara for years, IndyCar would need to monitor the cars’ via torque sensors to keep their horsepower levels in check and, similar to IMSA, have engine size parameters to ensure all options would fit in any chassis.
Then, after a massive rethink on IndyCar’s DW12 chassis that has been in use for well over a decade (and has become the butt of jokes about being able to run in vintage races), in theory, the ceilings imposed on the series running off just two engine manufacturers would be no more.
Penske Entertainment Corp. president and CEO Mark Miles told reporters earlier this month that series leadership has begun discussions around the development of a new chassis and engine formula that would launch together – as early as 2027 when Honda and Chevy’s current manufacturer contracts will be up for renewal.
For 2024, IMSA’s GTP class includes cars running Cadillac, Porshe, BMW, Acura and Lamborghini engines. In IndyCar, its hybrid project that was originally announced in 2019, delayed in 2020 (to 2023), delayed again in 2022 (to 2024), changed its parameters from a 2.4-liter to a 2.2 in late-2022 and was delayed once more this December (to a mid-season 2024 introduction).
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“It’s still got to look like an open-wheel car,” Andretti said. “You’re going to have different-sounding engines. You’ll have the ‘roar’ of a (Cadillac) and the quietness of a BMW, and it’ll be different in that way, which I think is a good thing.”
Has he talked to any other manufacturers about his proposal?
“I don’t know, but it’s something that’s going to have them ingthink about it,” he said. “(The Indy 500) is the biggest sporting event in the world, but it has to make sense for them economically, because that’s the first thing they always talk about, and this is a way to make it work.”
Asked about his thoughts on IndyCar’s current dilemma of its ongoing hybrid program, which hit major roadblocks and paused testing in December but has hit the ground running with a pair of tests in recent weeks, Andretti seethed.
“I don’t even want to get into that. Not good, a lot of money, and for what? That was one of the mistakes they’ve made, and we’ve got to live with it, but don’t let this happen again,” he said. “That was all because they didn’t have any real rules in place.
“We’ve got to set the next 5-6 years, starting with 2027, and have this five-year plan of what we’re going to have, so we don’t run into the problem we have right now.”
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Andretti did acknowledge HRC’s plan made public months ago, which proposed Ilmor Engineering, co-owned by Penske and currently manufacturing engines for Chevy in IndyCar, become a single-supplier for the series’ internal combustion engines to drastically lower costs for the likes of Honda, Chevy and potential newcomers. Engine manufacturers could then be allowed to either tinker with the hybrid technology or other parts of the system’s electronics to differentiate the programs with the aim of creating a low-cost option that, along with the allure of the 500, would hopefully be enough to entice newcomers.
The long-time team-owner worries there may not be enough actual technology for those currently on the outside of the sport to want to dive in, knowing it could be seen as a bit of a badging exercise.
“I think there’s going to be some manufacturers that are like, ‘If I don’t have my technology in the (internal combustion engine) side, I don’t really want to do it,” Andretti said. “(The IMSA technology) is already out there.
“I guess it just makes too much sense.”
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In a separate sit-down with select media Friday afternoon, Andretti’s long-time competitor Chip Ganassi was asked about his rival’s proposal. Though not wholly opposed to the idea, Ganassi said he wished Andretti had taken another avenue to making his proposals.
“I think manufacturers come into formulas of racing because the sanctioning body goes to that manufacturer and says, ‘How can we interest you in this formula?’ I don’t know that engine formulas are dictated by some (team) owner that wants some particular type of engine,” Ganassi said. “That’s a good idea, but so far, I don’t hear any manufacturers saying that’s a good idea.
“I just don’t know. I think there’s a forum for that, and I don’t know that Michael blurting out his ideas in the media is the way to go about that.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Michael Andretti: IndyCar should adopt IMSA GTP engine rules for new car
