It would have been an ordeal that everyone is now refraining from: No current IndyCar driver will race IMSA’s 12h Sebring due to scheduling overlap
When the race calendars for the 2022 season of the IndyCar Series and the IMSA Sports Car Series were released at the end of 2021, some IndyCar drivers were not entirely comfortable. The reason: the IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and IMSA’s 12 Hours of Sebring are scheduled for the same weekend.
On Saturday, 19 March, the endurance classic will take place in Florida. The first oval race of the IndyCar season is scheduled for Sunday, 20 March in Texas. Five drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Helio Castroneves and Kyle Kirkwood – had actually planned to do the double.
For this they would have flown back and forth between Sebring and Dallas/Fort Worth. The IndyCar Series even considered adjusting the Texas schedule so that the double entrants would not miss a session on the 1.5-mile oval.
But all that has now come to an end. That’s because Johnson, Dixon and Ericsson, who all drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, and also Castroneves, who competes for Meyer Shank Racing, will skip the 12 Hours of Sebring, as will Kirkwood, who is an IndyCar rookie driving for A.J. Enterprises.
Substitute drivers for failing IndyCar drivers
Substitutes have now been found for the guest drivers from the IndyCar series who are dropping out for Sebring. Johnson, who is part of the line-up of the second Action Express Cadillac (starting number 48) in the IMSA endurance races, will be replaced by Jose Maria Lopez on a one-off basis. The Argentinean was the fourth driver on this car at the season opener, the 24 Hours of Daytona, alongside Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Rockenfeller and Johnson himself.
Dixon and Ericsson had been scheduled to complete the line-ups of the two Ganassi Cadillacs – 02 with Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn – at Sebring. Driving in place of Dixon will be Ryan Hunter-Reay, who has not been given an IndyCar cockpit for 2022.
Kevin Magnussen was nominated instead of Ericsson. However, this will not happen after all, because the Dane was surprisingly presented on Wednesday for the Formula 1 cockpit that had become vacant at Haas. There, the season opener in Bahrain overlaps with the Sebring weekend. It remains to be seen who will replace Magnussen as the third driver in the 02 Ganassi-Cadillac at Sebring.
Castroneves, who triumphed for Meyer Shank Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona along with Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist and Simon Pagenaud, will be replaced in the Sebring line-up by Stoffel Vandoorne. And Kirkwood, who should have driven the 14 Vasser/Sullivan Lexus with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in the GTD Pro class as he did at Daytona, will be replaced by Aaron Telitz.
