AJ Foyt Racing has signed Indy Lights racer Benjamin Pedersen for IndyCar on a multi-year deal ranging from 2023.
The 23-year-old Danish-American has spent the previous two years in Indy Lights in a automotive co-run by International Racing Group and HMD Motorsports. He got here fourth within the 2021 standings with six podiums after which completed fifth on this 12 months’s championship with 5 podiums together with a primary win at Portland.
“I’m super-excited to get going with the staff,” Pedersen stated. “I’ve spent lots of time this season with AJ Foyt Racing studying the ins and outs of constructing the soar to IndyCar, and it’s been very nice to do this along side my Indy Lights season.
“IndyCar has been my goal objective since I began open-wheel racing in 2016. The racing, ambiance, followers, occasions, tracks, et cetera are all superior.”
Pedersen expects his Indy Lights expertise will put together him properly to make the step as much as IndyCar subsequent 12 months.
“The Indy Lights sequence and automotive serves as the final word transition into IndyCar,” he stated. “From a sequence perspective, Indy Lights goes to the IndyCar occasions, so we share the identical weekend format, factors, guidelines, race director, et cetera. This makes the transition very pure to IndyCar, as all of this stuff will keep the identical.
“From a automotive perspective, I can say first-hand that the Indy Lights automotive is a good automotive to transition from because it actually rewards pushing to a excessive restrict and nearly overdriving a bit on the height of the tire.”
Foyt is but to substantiate which of its vehicles Pedersen will drive. Nevertheless it was beforehand introduced that Kyle Kirkwood – the motive force of the quantity 14 entry that Pedersen shadowed on the pit wall this 12 months – depart to affix Andretti Autosport for 2023.
“We’re actually wanting ahead to having Benjamin as a part of the staff,” stated staff president Larry Foyt. “His enthusiasm is infectious, and he’s 100% dedicated to IndyCar, AJ Foyt Racing and doing the perfect he can to win races.
“It’s been nice to have him embedded with the staff this previous season, and everybody is happy to hit the bottom working when testing begins. Additionally it is nice to have a multiyear program in place, which is able to assist him and the staff develop collectively.”
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