New Manufacturer's for IndyCar from 2012

[Muzza]

Chevrolet will re-enter the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012 when new regulations are introduced for chassis and engines.

The bowtie brand’s IndyCar plans were confirmed today in an announcement at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been a proving ground for manufacturers since Louis Chevrolet, our co-founder, first raced here in 1909,” said Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet Marketing.

“Our return to IndyCar as Chevrolet enters its centennial year is natural. At the same time this engine program will be a showcase for the efficient and powerful engine technologies that parallel new Chevrolet vehicles like the Camaro, all-new Cruze compact and Equinox crossover.”

Roger Penske was a key figure in GM re-entering IndyCar racing, with Team Penske to run Chevy engines and Ilmor to run the engine program
Chevrolet will supply multiple teams in 2012, with Roger Penske’s operation the first to run with Chevy power.

Full Story: Speed Cafe

[bradk12fan]

I'm surprised that it was Penske and not Ganassi that was the 1st to announce that they were going to Chevy in Indycar.

[Muzza]

If you click on the Speed Cafe link it is explained in more detail, basically Honda will be building their own engines in 2012 so Penske's engine company "Ilmor" (who currently builds the Honda engine's) approched Chev as a replacement.

[bradk12fan]

If you click on the Speed Cafe link it is explained in more detail, basically Honda will be building their own engines in 2012 so Penske's engine company "Ilmor" (who currently builds the Honda engine's) approched Chev as a replacement.

I know, but the reason why I'm surprised is that Penske runs Dodges in NASCAR, and Dodge is looking to enter Indycar. I was expecting Ganassi to go to Chevy in Indycar since he runs Chevys with EGR in NASCAR and runs Chevy powered cars in Grand-Am.

[Muzza]

If you click on the Speed Cafe link it is explained in more detail, basically Honda will be building their own engines in 2012 so Penske's engine company "Ilmor" (who currently builds the Honda engine's) approched Chev as a replacement.

I know, but the reason why I'm surprised is that Penske runs Dodges in NASCAR, and Dodge is looking to enter Indycar. I was expecting Ganassi to go to Chevy in Indycar since he runs Chevys with EGR in NASCAR and runs Chevy powered cars in Grand-Am.

Sorry BK12F, i don't keep up on much of the NASCAR stuff.

Maybe Chip is hanging out to see if Ilmor build the Chev, then he can just continue on with his current agreement and not have to worry about all the $$$ for building and testing.

Even though the story only talks about Chev, maybe they have made the same approach with Dodge and the story hasn’t filtered out yet, or maybe they are just after a change?
 

[kevrulezz]

just saw this on autosport.com
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88397

Group Lotus to build IndyCar engine
By Matt Beer and Simon Strang    Thursday, November 18th 2010, 22:06 GMT

Group Lotus will ramp up its involvement in the IndyCar Series and join Honda and Chevrolet as an engine supplier when the new generation rules come into effect in 2012.

Lotus had already announced that it would build a bodywork package for the new regulations, under which teams and constructors can add their own aero kits to a Dallara-supplied safety cell, and announced in Las Angeles today that it would also be building a new engine to compete outright.

"We take racing seriously and we don't just want to put a sticker on a car that we did not have an influence to build, " said Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar. "We want to really fight and compete with the big guys."

Bahar added that this year's one-car presence, run by KV Racing for Takuma Sato, was a first exploratory step in to the IndyCar Series, which has convinced the company to sanction a full factory effort from 2012.

....

There is a lot more to the article so click the link at the top if your interested.

[Muzza]

I changed the title to this thread so we can include all the news for any changes in 2012