The Phoenix Lives, But Prema Dies

Valentine’s Day weekend has come and gone, as has the Daytona 500, but for those who love American open-wheel, a much longer affair beckons. We’re 13 days away from the first IndyCar race of the year, and the final pieces are clicking into place. So without further ado, let’s have one last news roundup for this offseason before the real party starts.

Grosjean finally confirmed at Coyne

After once again keeping us waiting until Valentine’s Day weekend, Dale Coyne Racing finally confirmed the return of Romain Grosjean, both to the team and to active IndyCar competition. After a year as a Prema reserve and IMSA endurance driver, the Swiss-Frenchman is back with the team where he started his IndyCar career, and where he scored half of his six podiums in the series.

We also now know the car numbers Coyne will run, with Grosjean taking the #18 and rookie Dennis Hauger hopping in the renumbered #19. This signals Grosjean as the higher driver in the pecking order, while Hauger gets a clean slate freed of the baggage that came with the #51.

Prema probably gone

Next is a piece of news I was hoping all offseason that I wouldn’t have to report. Due to lack of funding, Prema Racing will not be a full-time operation this year, missing at least the first race and probably more to follow. Realistically, if they don’t make it to the Indy 500, they’re not showing up this year at all, and even if they do, chances are we’ll have just 25 cars on track at everything afterward.

The timing of their start is an obvious factor. Prema had the misfortune of entering the mix right when the charter system made them ineligible for the Leader’s Circle program, and their choice to not take a pay driver was admirable, but extremely costly. Leaning on your reserve driver for the biggest sponsor sticker on the car is never a good sign. However, this is a story that extends up into the broader family of DC Racing Solutions, the umbrella that unites Prema with the Iron Lynx and Iron Dames sports car teams. In that world, the organization was heavily linked with Lamborghini, helping to develop its SC63 hypercar, but instead of getting a lucrative works team partnership out of it, they got hung out to dry when Lamborghini pulled the plug on the car after just two seasons of competition. That’s left the organization scrambling at all levels, and it could end up being the main reason Prema leaves America and goes back to its wheelhouse of European junior formulas.

Teams coming and going is nothing new in Indy racing, but it’s a shame to see this one go so soon after they began. Between Robert Shwartzman’s feel-good pole at the 500 and Callum Ilott’s late run of form, it felt like Prema had the makings of something good, and now we won’t truly know what kind of step forward they would have made in year two.

Honda and Chevy here to stay

In more positive news, any worries of potentially losing an engine manufacturer have been thoroughly assuaged. IndyCar confirmed Thursday that both Chevrolet and Honda will stick around for the foreseeable future and have a hand in developing the 2028 formula, which will replace the oft-iterated DW12.

Even more intriguingly, each manufacturer will get one charter from 2028 onward, allowing them to effectively create works teams. That’s a massive change for American open-wheel, which historically has been all privateers, and a huge opportunity for the two-car teams of the grid, who can take on a works charter without having to sell off one of their own like the three-car teams would. The obvious candidate on Honda’s side is Meyer Shank, who have the slot free and already serve as the Acura works team in IMSA. Chevrolet, meanwhile, will likely turn to A.J. Foyt Racing, whose position in the Chevy pecking order is the same as MSR’s minus the sports car involvement.

Legends return at St. Pete

On top of everything else the St. Petersburg weekend means to IndyCar, this year’s edition is a gathering of dynasties. American open-wheel’s three emperors of the 21st century, with thirteen National Championships between them, will all compete over the course of the weekend, each in a different series.

To kick off Saturday and close out Sunday, Champ Car overlord Sébastien Bourdais will make his debut in the always-chaotic Mazda MX-5 Cup. He’ll pilot the McCumbee McAleer #38 to raise money for charity, and given his ties to the city, he should be a crowd favorite in both races.

Later on Saturday, we’ll see Dario Franchitti, the man who led IndyCar into reunification, driving the Tricon #1 Toyota Tundra in the first ever NASCAR Truck Series race on a street circuit. This will be the Scotsman’s first crack at any level of NASCAR since his ill-fated 2008 Sprint Cup campaign, his first Truck Series race since a one-off at 2007’s fall Martinsville 200, and his first race on American soil since the 2013 crash that ended his IndyCar career. As long as Dario doesn’t get in another crash (God forbid), this will be a very fondly-remembered return.

Suffice to say, if Álex Palou doesn’t get a picture with Bourdais and Franchitti before he straps in for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, then somebody’s publicity team is asleep at the wheel. Palou’s quest to win his fifth National Championship in six years will, if successful, combine his predecessors’ two patterns of dominance into one dynastic chain, and the sheer history it would embody to have these three men standing shoulder to shoulder cannot be overstated.