Andretti Autosport announced on Wednesday that Marcus Ericsson would be joining the team for the 2024 IndyCar season.
The veteran will be competing in his sixth IndyCar season, and will move on from Chip Ganassi Racing after driving for the squad for the past four years.
That tenure brought him four wins and an Indianapolis 500 win, and elevated him higher than position as a pay driver.
His new home will give him a new opportunity to earn more victories while racing for another one of the historic teams on the grid.
“I’m very happy and proud to be joining Andretti Autosport next season,” said Ericsson. “Andretti is one of the most legendary names in motorsports, so it is definitely a dream come true for me to join this team.
“I want to thank Michael [Andretti] and Dan [Towriss] for putting their trust in me and I can’t wait to get to know everyone in the organization. It’s a very exciting new chapter in my career and I’m really looking forward to getting to work achieving our goals together.
“Exciting times are ahead and I’m thankful for this opportunity.”
The announcement confirmed that Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood would be racing alongside Ericsson, leaving the team’s current drivers Romain Grosjean and Devlin DeFrancesco out of the release.
The futures of those two drivers are not yet known, and it was not confirmed which entry Ericsson will be driving, although it seems likely he will be piloting the #28 entry.
“Like everyone else, we have paid close attention to Marcus’ success in the NTT IndyCar Series and have been impressed with how quickly he proved that he belonged with the frontrunners in what is arguably the most competitive IndyCar field ever,” said Michael Andretti.
“It’s no secret that we want to win races and Championships and to do that we need drivers like Marcus who have that natural talent and determined drive.
“We are excited for the winning mindset that Marcus brings to the table and I’m eager to see what next season has in store for us.”
The announcement comes as the fate of Ericsson’s current team-mate Alex Palou has been taking up the headlines, and perhaps points to the presumptive champion staying at Chip Ganassi Racing for the future.
With both Ericsson and Palou demanding higher salaries to retain their services, it would be reasonable if Ganassi would only be able to afford to keep one of the two.
At the very least, the #8 entry was one of the key pieces in IndyCar’s silly season, and other driver announcements may start falling into place due to that vacancy.
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