Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball have secured their seats for the 2018 IndyCar season.
They will race for a brand new IndyCar team, but the team is far from being rookies in motorsport.
They have a been racing in Indy Lights through the previous 3 seasons – where they finished second, first and third in the Teams Championship, as well as taking the Drivers title in 2016.
If you haven’t already guessed, we are talking about Carlin. Carlin is very well known in the European single seater ranks, but has had 3 seasons with a US base for their Indy Lights programme too.
Photo: Indycar.com/Shawn Gritzmacher
Charlie Kimball drove for the team in British Formula 3 in 2005, and two years later in the World Series by Renault. Max Chilton already drove for the team in 2009, when he raced in the British Formula 3 Championship, and since then, in GP2 and Indy Lights as well. Kimball and Chilton has been teammates at Chip Ganassi Racing, but the team on one side and the two drivers on the other side didn’t agree in the working procedures for the last few months. And then they decided to go for Carlin, when they got the option.
The engine choice will be Chevrolet, which is the engine that was won 5 out of the last 6 Championships, joining teams like Penske and A.J. Foyt Enterprises on that choice.
Photo: Indycar.com/Chris Owens
Max Chilton will have Gallagher as the main sponsor on his car, while Charlie Kimball will bring Novo Nordisk along with him, in his 8th IndyCar season. Kimball has type 1 diabetes, so he has a very special and personal relation to them. Actually, Kimball is racing with a small automatic insulin pump underneath his driving suit, which measures his blood sugar level all the time, and adds a bit of insulin during the race, in case it’s needed. That is a very special way to promote each other, proving that you can be an elite sports man and have diabetes at the same time.
The IndyCar season starts on 11 March on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
