Carlin has announced that they will join IndyCar in 2018 with Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball as its drivers.
Both cars will complete a full season, with engines supplied by Chevrolet.
Chilton and Kimball have both driven for Carlin in other series in the past. Team-mates at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2016 and 2017, both lost their drive with CGR after the team reduced to a two-car programme for 2018.
Chilton’s links to the team are well-known; he has driven for the team in British F3, GP2 and most recently Indy Lights, and his father Grahame serves as the team’s CEO. The British driver also drove in Formula 1 for the Marussia team in 2013 and 2014, although he failed to score a point.
2018 will be Kimball’s first IndyCar season with a team other than Chip Ganassi Racing, having driven for the team from 2011 onward. Kimball has a single IndyCar victory to his name, back in 2013, but finished behind Chilton in the drivers’ standings last season.
Both drivers bring financial backing to the team. Kimball, who is diabetic, is sponsored by Novo Nordisk, a healthcare company that produces Insulin. Chilton is sponsored by insurance firm Gallagher, who also sponsor his brother Tom in WTCC.
Team Principal Trevor Carlin said of the announcement. “We’re delighted to finally be able to announce our entry into IndyCar, the result of a long-term ambition of the team.
“To be joined on that journey in our debut season by brands such as Gallagher and Novo Nordisk and with drivers we already have a race winning history with Max and Charlie, is beyond what we could have expected.
“By no means do we underestimate the challenge and competition that lies ahead, but I have great faith in the young and passionate team that our team manager Colin (Hale) and I have put together.”
Carlin, who will also enter Formula 2, will compete in seven different championships next year. Its entry makes them the second full-time entry after Harding Racing, with two other teams also joining on a part-time basis.
The team have a reputation for developing talent in European series, taking a drivers’ championship in this year’s European Formula 3 season with Lando Norris. The team has won 24 championships in its time, including the 2016 Indy Lights title with Ed Jones, who is one of seven former Carlin drivers who are confirmed to be competing in the IndyCar in 2018.
This is not the team’s first attempt at entering the IndyCar series. Ever since the team first appeared in the Indy Lights championship, Trevor Carlin has expressed an interest in stepping up to the IndyCar Series.
The team will be based in Delray Beach, Florida, where the Indy Lights team has been based.
