As Marcus Ericsson enters his sixth year racing in the NTT IndyCar Series, he finds himself among a new team and looking for the consistency that has eluded him so far in his career.
Ericsson joins Andretti Global following four years at Chip Ganassi Racing, and is coming into a team that has the same types of consistency issues that he has had in his own career.
Even with four drivers for the last three seasons, Andretti collectively only earned seven wins over that time. The results record for each entry is peppered with finishes in the lower half of the field, resulting in less than desirable points tables.
The team pared down its entries to just three for the 2024 season, partially in an effort to get a better handle on the poor results that have been coming too often for its liking.
Ericsson described how he feels the Andretti shop is comparable to the Ganassi shop in a lot of ways, and he hopes he can bring over some details with him that will help bring consistency to his new team.
“I think there has been a lot of talk about expectations going into the season,” Ericsson said to MotorsportWeek.com.
“The team is very eager to take the next step and beat the Ganassis and Penskes. That’s what we all want to do.
“For me, what I’ve been pushing really hard at, is to find the consistency. From the outside, that’s something Andretti has been struggling a little bit with the last few years. They’ve been up and down.
“I want to come in and be consistent, and deliver every weekend on a consistent level. If we do that, we’re going to have wins as well, because we’re going to put ourselves in a position to get those wins.
“For me, I’ll be pushing hard to deliver consistent performances week in and week out. That’s the mindset I go into the season with.”
Ericsson has logged four wins in the past three seasons while driving for Ganassi, but has only logged 12 top 10 finishes in that same time frame.
He was set for a solid top 10 result in St. Petersburg to get his new goal set off in the right direction, but a sudden engine problem at halfway forced him to retire on the spot.
The Swede will need less of that type of luck if he is to improve on the sixth-place championship position that he has earned each of the past three years.
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