Indycar Season Primer

Report and Images by Mark Roden of MRA Racing Images

9 April 2023

This year’s St. Petersburg Gran Prix was my third, after the 2019 and 2022 events.  It would have counted as the fourth, but because of the pandemic there was a change in the date for the 2020 race which kept me from going.  Lucky for me, both the St. Petersburg and Portland Indycar races are managed by Green Savoree racing, and I was able to transfer my ticket ownership to the Portland Gran Prix for 2021. 

The St. Petersburg race kicks off the Indycar racing season and brings with it all of the sights, sounds and hype one would expect from a season opener, along with some new car liveries and driver / team changes to think about for the coming year.  This year’s changes include some driver shifts from team to team, new looks (more green cars!) and some rulebook changes.  So, before I get into the race report, I’ll give you an Indycar 2023 season primer.

Team/Driver changes. 

A.J. Foy Racing:

Dalton Kellett (who drove the #4 car during the 2022 season) is out, and in will come rookie Benjamin Pedersen driving the newly numbered #55 car.  Santino Ferrucci will replace Kyle Kirkwood in the #14 entry, who is leaving for the Andretti Autosport team.

Andretti Autosport:

Kyle Kirkwood will replace outgoing Alexander Rossi in the #27 car, joining Colton Herta in the #26, Romain Grosjean in the #28, Devlin DeFrancesco in the #29 and Marco Andretti in the #98 (Indianapolis 500 only).  One other notable change is the signing of Scott Harner as team manager.  Scott came from the A.J. Foyt team and before that he was a team co-manager at Chip Ganassi racing.

Arrow McLaren:

Pato O’Ward will continue to pilot the #5 Chevrolet, while Felix Rosenqvist moves to the #6 to make room for Alexander Rossi, who will take the wheel of the #7 entry for the 2023 season.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan:

Jack Harvey moves to the #30, Christian Lundgaard moves to the #45.

Liveries:

Many of the cars still appear as they did last year, but several have changed their skin.  For instance, the #8 Huski Chocolate machine that Marcus Ericsson drives looks pretty much the same, as does the #12 of Will Power. 

Here is a list of the cars and descriptions of what they looked like at the 2023 St Pete Gran Prix and the Thermal Club testing session in California, along with a comparison of my images from this and last year’s images from St Pete, GMR Gran Prix and/or Indianapolis 500 liveries.

#2 Team Penske Chevrolet driven by Josef Newgarden:

2023 St Pete: car looks the same as it did in 2022; black and white, with Hitachi as major sponsor.

2023 Thermal Club test session: red and yellow, with Pennzoil as major sponsor.

#3 Team Penske Chevrolet driven by Scott McLaughlin:

2023 St Pete: same as in 2022; red, white with black trim and Dex Imaging as major sponsor.



2023 Thermal Club test session: solid yellow, Pennzoil as major sponsor.

It will be interesting to see what they show up in for Texas.  Rumor has it that it will be the yellow and white XPEL sponsored color scheme.  This information came from Scott himself.  I’ll find out in a few days.  (Update:  As I am finishing this report up just after the Texas race, I can verify that it was in fact the yellow/white livery.)

#5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driven by Pato O’Ward:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete, with a color scheme of black and orange with light blue trim, however Velo has replaced Vuse as the primary sponsor, Medallia has replaced Mission, and NTT Data has replaced Tezos as the sponsors on various panels.

#06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda driven by Helio Castroneves:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete; pink and black with white trim and SeriusXM/AutoNation as majors.

#6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driven by Felix Rosenqvist:

The #6 livery run last year at Indy by Juan Pablo Montoya (red and black, with Lucas as top sponsor) looks different than this year’s version, but the 2023 St Pete and Thermal Club liveries are the same; orange and blue with black trim and NTT Data as the main sponsor. 

There are also two alternate liveries which will be driven at different tracks throughout the year with Onsemi and Smartstop as the primary sponsor.  I do not have photos of these, but you can find them on openwheel.com.  I am including the 2022 GMR Gran Prix livery here as I photographed it for comparison. 

#7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driven by Alexander Rossi:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete, with a color scheme of orange, blue and black, however Velo has replaced Vuse as the primary sponsor, Medallia has replaced Mission, and NTT Data has replaced Tezos as the sponsors on various panels.

#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driven by Marcus Ericsson:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete; red and white with a depiction of a mountain range on the sides and Huski Chocolates as the primary sponsor.

#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driven by Scott Dixon:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete, with the familiar color scheme of orange, blue and white.  However, pay close attention to the detail of the patterns and where the colors separate; they are different from last year in subtle ways.  Also, it appears that NTTData and Speedway are off as minor sponsors; PNC Bank is still the primary sponsor of the car.  As overly familiar as this car is, I have to say that it really does look better the way they have it now.

#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driven by Alex Palou:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete, with a color scheme of red, blue and white and American Legion as the primary sponsor.  However, where the American Legion sponsor name was last year there is now the slogan, “Be The One”, and the sponsor name is on the front wing where the “legion.org” website was last year.  The colors are mostly the same, but the side pod platform is now black instead of white.

#11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driven by Marcus Armstrong:

In 2022, the #11 car was an A.J. Foyt Racing entry driven by Tatiana Calderón and was solid black.  This year it is one of the Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas and is driven by newcomer Marcus Armstrong.  The car is still a solid color, but now it is green with Ridgeline as the primary sponsor.

#12 Team Penske Chevrolet, driven by Will Power:

The #12 car is very easily identified on track.  It is still the same red and black livery with Verizon as the primary sponsor and Hitachi as supplementary sponsor on the front wing. CarShop is off the back panel and in its place is Gallagher.  Still a great looking piece of kit.

#14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet driven by Santino Ferrucci:

Last year’s #14 driven by Kyle Kirkwood was an all-black, RoKit sponsored car.  This year, the liveries from Thermal Club and St Pete are black with red trim and sponsored by Sexton Properties.  I very much liked the solid black version, but the red fins look good as well.

#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda driven by Graham Rahal:

The version of this car for the 2022 GMR Gran Prix was white in the front, dark blue in the back, with thin yellow and green stripes going back at an angle to separate the two major colors.  The sponsors were Fifth Third Bank on the sidepod and United Rentals on the engine cover. 

#15, 2022 Indy GMR Gran Prix

The version run at last year’s St Pete GP was a little different; still a white/blue split but with a red stripe, and United Rentals was a prominent sponsor on the sidepod while Fifth Third Bank was a minor sponsor on the engine cover.

#15, 2022 St Pete Gran Prix

This year, both Thermal Club and St Pete GP liveries are lighter blue with a white sidepod, and a darker blue from the nose up to the back of the driver opening, with United Rentals and Fifth Third Bank as the sponsor layout.

#15, 2023 St. Pete Gran Prix

In addition, there are two other color schemes expected to run this year.  The first is a two-toned green (yes, green!) angled split with no separating stripe and iPacket as the main sponsor, set to be used for the Laguna Seca circuit.  The second is light blue with white sidepods and a white section from wings and nose instead of the dark blue. 

This last one is supposed to be run at Texas, so I will have some photos of it soon.  (Update: I can confirm that the second color scheme was the light blue/white version, with Fleet Cost and Care as the major sponsor.)

#18 Dale Coyne racing with HMD Motorsports Honda driven by David Malukas:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete; the only difference I see is the black front wing as opposed to last year’s white one.  Sponsors are the same, HMD primary.

#20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet driven by Conor Daly:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete, but the blue is a bit darker, and they have completely removed the light blue shade on the front wings and rear spoiler.  There is also more gold in front and the separation between gold and dark blue is fragmented.  Looks very nice.

#21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet driven by Rinus Veekay:

The #21 car has undergone a total makeover from last year.  In the St Pete Gran Prix, the car was black and red with white side pods, and the primary sponsor was Sonax.  This year, both Thermal Club and St Pete liveries sport a much brighter white and gold car sponsored by Bitnile.com. 

#23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay:

This livery has not been revealed yet, but the livery shown below is from 2022, and had the car donned in red/black with white trim and a Screamin’ Sicilian sponsor badge on the sidepod.  It is expected to show at the Indianapolis 500 in May (first day of practice is the 16^th).  I guess we’ll see.

#23, 2022 Indy GMR Gran Prix

#24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing w/Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Stefan Wilson:

This livery on a D&R car is also set to be rolled out at the Indy 500, although it is revealed that it will be a white and blue car with Cusick and Chevrolet as sponsors.

(No photo currently available)

#26 Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian Honda driven by Colton Herta:

Only minor differences from last year; some of the black and yellow have been switched. For instance, the rear wing supports that were previously black are now yellow, and the sidepod rear tire flares are black in place of last year’s yellow.  The roll bar is now yellow with black numbers, in place of black with yellow numbers in 2022.  Everything else seems to be unchanged.

#27 Andretti Autosport Honda driven by Kyle Kirkwood:

Well, this car has gone almost total pink.  Both St Pete and Thermal Club liveries are similar, but a little different from last year when this was Rossi’s ride.  In 2022, the middle of the car, as well as most of the sidepods, were blue and sported the NAPA Auto Parts logo.  This year, the car is all pink with just a touch of white and AutoNation as the primary sponsor.

#28 Andretti Autosport Honda driven by Romain Grosjean:

Both the Thermal Club and St Pete GP liveries continue to sport the DHL red and yellow scheme from last year.  However, there is a new livery on the horizon for the GMR Gran Prix in May.  That livery will be completely different, colored all blue with a touch of pink at the front, DNS/Filter as primary sponsor and DHL as a minor sponsor.  This one is going to look good on the road course; I can’t wait to shoot it through “The Hole” at IMS.

#29 Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda driven by Devlin DeFrancesco:

Not only are both the Thermal Club and St Pete liveries different, but they are also a stark change from last year’s scheme.  The Thermal Club arrangement sported a light blue and what I would call mauve paint scheme with an EVTEC primary sponsor.  The entire thing went through the paint booth and came out green and white with a touch of orange and a Capstone main sponsor before it rolled off the trailer in St Petersburg.  Just for reference, last year’s model was day-glow yellow with a bit of orange; brightest car on the track.  Decisions, decisions…

#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda driven by Jack Harvey:

Jack Harvey is now at the wheel of the #30 car, which looks a bit different than the Shield sponsored entry from last year.  The car is still red and white, but now there are some discreet blue stripes, and the sponsor has been replaced by Kustom Entertainment.  Both Thermal Club and SPGP liveries are the same.

#33 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet driven by Ed Carpenter:

Ed drove the #33 in last year’s Indianapolis 500.  I’m not sure if he drove it anywhere else, but what the car had last year as far as paint scheme was a purple and light blue Alzamend sponsored car.  This year, I guess the Bitnile scheme was looking so good to him that he decided to go with it as well.  The colors are a variation of the other two, with a gold nose and dark blue, and a very fragmented relief between the two colors.  This car will be driven in this year’s Indianapolis 500.  Good choice, sir, good choice.

#44 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda driven by Katherine Legge:

The #44 is a new car which will be driven by Katherine Legge.  The scheme will most likely be white and red with black trim and sponsored by Hendrickson.

(No photo currently available)

#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda driven by Christian Lundgaard:

Although carrying a new driver, the #45 appearance is mostly unchanged.  Still all black with a touch of red and Hyvee sponsor, they’ve dropped Mtn Dew and Doordash and picked up Gatorade and Google Instacart as new supplemental sponsors.

#51 Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing Honda driven by Sting Ray Robb:

The 2022 version was a purple and white livery sponsored by Nurtec.  This year’s livery at Thermal Club was all white with blue rear wing supports, angled stripes of blue, green and black, and sported a Rick Ware sponsorship.  For St Pete, the car looked almost identical to Thermal Club except for the addition of the Biohaven primary sponsor name across the stripes.

#55 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet driven by Benjamin Pedersen:

The #4 car driven by Dalton Kellett last year has now been re-numbered as the #55 car.  The #4 had a scheme of white, black and aqua, and the new #55 at Thermal Club and at St Pete was an all-red livery with black rear wing supports sponsored by Sexton Properties.

#60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda driven by Simon Pagenaud:

2023 St Pete and Thermal Club test sessions: similar to 2022 St Pete, except for some small yellow stickers in the front.  I’m not sure what those are; they don’t look like sponsor decals.

#66 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driven by…Tony Kanaan?

I have no information on this car other than it is expected to be driven by Tony Kanaan.  I am guessing this will show up at the 500 in May.

#77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet driven by Callum Ilott:

This is a seriously good-looking black with lime green and white accented livery for the 2023 season.  Honestly, last year’s car looked pretty good as well, being white and black with some darker green accents.  The 2023 version took some new thinking and a complete makeover to get it looking how it is now.  The only difference I can see between Thermal Club and St Pete is the safety shield strip across the top; it was black at testing and lime green at St Pete.  Very nicely done.

#78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet driven by Agustín Canapino:

Juncos Hollinger has introduced a new car for its new driver, and it looks just like the #77 except for the number.  I guess they really, really like that scheme.  So do I.

#78, 2023 St. Pete Gran Prix

#98 Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian Honda driven by Marco Andretti:

No information currently, however we know that Marco Andretti is going to be the driver.  This will be revealed in the days or weeks before the Indy 500, or it will just show up at the track on May 16^th.  Last year’s 500 livery was dark blue/light blue/white, with a KULR sponsor badge on the sidepod.

Rule changes.

Rather than spend time copying what I have found on other sites, I will give a brief list of these new changes and then direct you to an online source which has a much more in-depth look at each point, along with graphics to help envision what it is they are talking about.

Included in the new 2023 IndyCar rule book are:

• Mandatory rain veins.  This is to prevent a problem with rain building up on the aero screen, as has been reported by drivers last year, most likely at the GMR Gran Prix.
• A stronger attenuator and bigger, brighter rain light (I took photos of this and it will be included in the Texas Indy report, coming soon.)
• New improved wheel tether system to avoid wheels coming off during collisions (Also had a chance to take a photo of this after a collision, I will include it as well in the Texas report.)
• Better driver headrest that is higher and will help with side impacts.
• Various mandatory and optional wicker bills and underwing aero pieces.
• Increased range for the rear wing at Indianapolis.
• Introducing two tire compounds to be run at ovals in similar fashion to the street and road courses.
• New qualifying rules concerning the red flag; first red flag of Q1/Q2 will stop the clock.  Also, the clock starts only after the first car crosses the start/finish line, not at the drop of the green flag.

Detailed information on these items can be found at the following links:

Indycar 2023 Upgrade Package

Indycar 2023 Technical and Safety changes

There is also an article available detailing the new telemetry system:

In part two of this report I will take a look at photographic locations at the St. Petersburg Indy Gran Prix temporary street circuit.

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