GM to Indycar?

Well, rumors popped out over the weekend that GM is preparing to announce it's return to Izod Indycar Racing by building a Twin-Turbo V6 for the 2012 engine regulations. The original article popped up on Autoextremist.com, then subsequent articles and rumors appeared on Speedtv.com, Indystar.com, autoracing1.com, and Autoweek. Most of the articles discussing the original Autoextremist.com news does not confirm the news, but do tend to lean in the direction that GM will be joining the Indycar series.

Autoextremist.com author Peter M. De Lorenzo says that an announcement will be made this Friday November 12th, noting that a possible announcement will be made at IMS.

Another central piece to the story is that the connection between GM and Chip Ganassi in both Nascab and the Izod Indycar Series. De Lorenzo states that Ganassi was being woo'ed by Ford to switch engines and cars for the 2011 Nascab season, but the decision by GM to go to Indianapolis in open wheel machinery in 2012 made the decision easy, and he will compete in 2012 with GM engines in both the tin tops and the new Izod Indycars.

Now, this news is not confirmed yet. Even Randy Bernard was quoted as saying the news is premature, however, he did not outright squash the rumors as he could have. He left it open, saying they expect to land atleast one engine competitor to join Honda in 2012.

Even if this news is not confirmed as of yet, where there's smoke, there is usually fire. I think the tie up between Ganassi and GM in Nascab is one of the defining factors of the story, and lends credence to the rumor. Also, let's face it, De Lorenzo is reporting this as pretty much fact, and with such a large news piece (and even citing it as breaking news), he is weighing his reputation on this. Leads me to believe that unless this is a horrible joke, he must feel this has a pretty good chance of coming true.

But if it does come true, and we see Honda battling GM/Chevrolet in the Izod Indycar Series in 2012, along with potentially one other engine manufacturer and a couple of aero kit constructors including Dallara and Lotus (potentially GM as well, as they were originally very interested in the aero kit concept), would be huge, and would definitely be a strong step in the right direction to lure some Izod Indycar fans back to the series.

Keep your fingers crossed, and let's see how this plays out.

Lotus Engines to Indy?

Rumors are swirling that Lotus Group is looking to join the Indycar Series in 2010 as a way to promote the Lotus brand. James Rossiter is supposedly being backed by Lotus in 2010 at KVRT as a Team Lotus USA/KVRT car. James tested at Barber with KVRT and ran around the middle of the pack.

However, this story keeps evolving. Today Autocar is reporting that Lotus has confirmed they will be returning to Indycar racing at the season opening event in Sao Paolo on March 14th.

"Although full details are yet to be confirmed, it is expected a Lotus-branded team will run two cars in the championship under the Team Lotus USA banner. They will be Dallara built and Honda powered."

Now, that right there is a bit of a surprise. We had expected James Rossiter to run at KVRT with Lotus backing, but if the Lotus branded team is to be 2 cars, I'm not sure exactly what that means. Will KVRT be running four cars full time with two cars as KVRT and two cars as Team Lotus USA? Maybe there will be two KVRT/Team Lotus USA cars (Sato and Rossiter) with E.J. Viso competing as KVRT? Or will Team Lotus end up being a completely different entity altogether.

Either way, this is a pretty big development if an additional car comes out of the Lotus deal.

But the bigger development here is that Lotus Group just announced a partnership with Kevin Kalkhoven-owned Cosworth to develop engines for Lotus' road cars as well as all Lotus motorsport projects. Now, this would explain why Lotus Group would approach KVRT to help them run their program.

Considering Lotus Group wants to get involved, and they just recently signed a deal with Cosworth to develop both road and racing engines for them, is it that far fetched to believe that Lotus is looking to make a bid to join Honda in 2012 in the Indycar Series?

"Currently Honda supplies the 3.5-litre V8 powerplants in Indycar, but Lotus is said to be considering a bid to takeover the supply when Honda's contract ends in 2011."

This Team Lotus USA and Lotus Group's involvement in the Izod Indycar Series sounds like it is about to pick up. Watching the developments surrounding Lotus Group will be fun to watch heading into the not-so-distant future.

Honda might have someone to play with after all.