Indycar needs more European talents

[ace007]

It is not a secret that I personally rate Sam Bird highly and a switch to Indycar would be sensational for him but also for the series! I believe it needs more European hooks and besides his speed and liking of close walls racing (Macau, Monaco, Singapore to name a few...), he is English and a great ambassador for the series and sponsors.

But broader speaking, wouldn't just more European pilots join make the series grow in terms of drivers' standards as well as fan base?

I am thinking of Filipi, Daly and even Buemi or Alguersarri?

[gaaaazFR]

Originally Posted by ace007

It is not a secret that I personally rate Sam Bird highly and a switch to Indycar would be sensational for him but also for the series! I believe it needs more European hooks and besides his speed and liking of close walls racing (Macau, Monaco, Singapore to name a few...), he is English and a great ambassador for the series and sponsors.

But broader speaking, wouldn't just more European pilots join make the series grow in terms of drivers' standards as well as fan base?

I am thinking of Filipi, Daly and even Buemi or Alguersarri?

Totally agree, European - "F1 level" talents... Like Di Resta, who could fill in Dario's seat apparently?

[Formulahistory]

I think it is not a really win for IndyCar to have driver, who had no drives in Europe like Alguersuari.

It would be nice to have really good American drivers like Hornish jr. or someone like him.

And the greatest win would be to have drivers like Alonso, the NASCAR champ or someone like them.

[Dragger]

The Indycar field is already full of European and International talent. In fact it's hard to find an American driver in the series.

What they need are some F1 caliber drivers. Indycar in the 90's, at the height of their series, had Mario and Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mansell a year after his F1 Championship, Senna even talked about going to Indycar after his F1 career.

I'd love to see Di Resta get Franchitti's seat, he would be my favorite for sure.

I'd like to see Indycar return to Surfer's Paradise Australia, Montreal Canada's F1 circuit, and Road America in the U.S.. And why don't we have an Indycar race at COTA in Texas yet?!?! Seriously, THAT IS WHAT WE NEED!!!

[Yannick]

As much as I would like a German driver being successful enough in IndyCars so the series could make a comeback to Eurospeedway Lausitz, however, I do not agree that it needs more European drivers.

If IndyLights winner Sage Karam gets a drive for next season, and JR Hildebrand, too, IndyCar is making good progress with getting more American driving talent. If not, well, European drivers should not be a priority.

A few years ago, a lot of young Brazilian drivers used to run IndyCars. But now that Tony Kanaan and Helio are getting older, there does not seem to be anyone interested in becoming the next Brazilian IndyCar star. Bia Figuereido only seems to get part time rides these days and Rafael Matos seems to have moved back to Brazil. Those two should have full-time rides.

I'd say it's about time for the series to get its Australian race back whilst there still are 3 top drivers from down under competing in it.

And no, I don't think many F1 fans could be lured over the pond because of Buemi or Alguersuari. And regarding Bird: how much of an increase in IndyCar fandom happened when Mike Conway joined the series?

In the past, the arrival of champions and winners from European based series were good for IndyCar. Who could be the Fittipaldis and Mansells of today? Well, due to Michael Schumacher having scored so many championships 10 years ago, there just aren't enough candidates who might want to come to IndyCar and bring their fanbase with them. At least, Jean Alesi tried, with that hapless Lotus engine. Hakkinen, Coulthard and Frentzen went to DTM instead. Now, Montoya will be back, at least.

Service Central putting Jacques Villeneuve in a 2nd Sarah Fisher Racing car for the 2011 Indy 500 would have been amazing, though. But like so many European style drivers, Jacques is not interested.

[Paradise City]

Indycar has enough Europeans. It needs more North Americans if anything, maybe more outside of the family dynasties, that can engage with the American public. I know some of you guys are upset that your favourite drivers aren't in F1 but Indycar isn't necessarily there to act as dumping ground for them.

[Marcus666]

Since last year, I've been thinking Ryan Hunter-Reay would be a perfect choice for a F1-team.

Hinchcliffe too!

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by Yannick

Service Central putting Jacques Villeneuve in a 2nd Sarah Fisher Racing car for the 2011 Indy 500 would have been amazing, though. But like so many European style drivers, Jacques is not interested.

Why was Jacques not interested? Why are drivers not interested in IndyCar? I think the racing is great. Okay you can earn more money in NASCAR and a lot of drivers have not the money to race in IndyCar, but Villeneuve had the chance, but had no interests. Why? He is not really driving anywhere - so that's stupid in my opinion.

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Why was Jacques not interested?

My guess - been there, done that, won the Indy 500, won the championship, moved on to F1. Now having more (if sporadic) fun in NASCAR, mostly retired from racing. Why would he go back? What would there be to prove?

[JacobP]

Originally Posted by rwintle

My guess - been there, done that, won the Indy 500, won the championship, moved on to F1. Now having more (if sporadic) fun in NASCAR, mostly retired from racing. Why would he go back? What would there be to prove?

Having made the mistake of his life by leaving Williams in 1999, he should have come back to IRL or CART racing right after the first disastrous season with BAR. Instead, he stayed in F1 for too many years wasting his prime years racing with uncompetitive teams, with predictable results. Such a waste of talent. Former F1 champions like Prost, Mansell, and Raikkonen were smart enough to take some time off from F1 racing when there was no competitive seat available.

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by rwintle

My guess - been there, done that, won the Indy 500, won the championship, moved on to F1. Now having more (if sporadic) fun in NASCAR, mostly retired from racing. Why would he go back? What would there be to prove?

But he don't really want to retire...

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by Dragger

The Indycar field is already full of European and International talent. In fact it's hard to find an American driver in the series.

Andretti was 5th in 2013, Hunter-Reay 7th (and champion last year), Kimball 9th, Newgarden 14th. 3 wins out of 19, 13 podiums out of 57.

[ace007]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Andretti was 5th in 2013, Hunter-Reay 7th (and champion last year), Kimball 9th, Newgarden 14th. 3 wins out of 19, 13 podiums out of 57.

Exactly! Plenty of talented brazilians too so talented European should be on the list as it is also about talent not just US hopefuls!! Filippi like Bird should join next year as both are exciting in different ways and both would bring charismatic vibes which are so missing at this point in the series!

Rounds in Europe, even if costly, should be re-instated! No doubt about it. Donnington? Imola? Assen? Zolder? Why not Jerez even?

[gert]

Originally Posted by ace007

Exactly! Plenty of talented brazilians too so talented European should be on the list as it is also about talent not just US hopefuls!! Filippi like Bird should join next year as both are exciting in different ways and both would bring charismatic vibes which are so missing at this point in the series!

For every Filippi or Bird there is a young North or South American driver that is as much worthy of a drive as either of the 2 you named.

Originally Posted by ace007

Rounds in Europe, even if costly, should be re-instated! No doubt about it. Donnington? Imola? Assen? Zolder? Why not Jerez even?

Let them first make the series viable on their own continent and expand to ours later.
As much as I'd like to see them over here, I think they'd better stay away for the next few years.

[ace007]

Originally Posted by gert

For every Filippi or Bird there is a young North or South American driver that is as much worthy of a drive as either of the 2 you named.

Name one pls

[Dragger]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Andretti was 5th in 2013, Hunter-Reay 7th (and champion last year), Kimball 9th, Newgarden 14th. 3 wins out of 19, 13 podiums out of 57.

Exactly!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

There are two sides to every coin.

1 - The more talent the better
2 - The more Americans, the more popular

The two can help each other, but by helping the other cause they hamper themselves...


Personally, even though I'm British, Indycar has to survive...

[Bob Riebe]

When Indy type racing had more drivers coming in from the short tracks, and road racing (when that was truly big in the U.S.) it brought along their fans to see how they did in Indy car, the 500 particularly.

With out a U.S. base (which means people paying attention to more than just the 500), what ever Indy car racing is called at the moment, it may not be DOA, but it is in the emergency room.

The U.S. driver is what George supposedly was going to bring back, but he then made rules that crapped on his own theory.

Nothing has really changed.

[Bob Riebe]

What Indy Car needs is more drivers and teams like this whose world is not small.

The car he used is one he drove in pavement races and he is a champion sprint car driver.

http://www.bybillwood.com/tag/worlds...st-sprint-car/

[JacobP]

Not only IndyCar already has plenty of European drivers, but also most of them are British. It would add a bit of variety if there were more drivers from other European countries Germany, Poland or Russia.

I don't know how to feel about the fact that IndyCar has mostly non-American drivers. On one hand, it's great that IndyCar is still significant enough that race car drivers from other continents are willing to be in it. On the other hand, the dominance of the foreign drivers is a sign that the North American talent doesn't care about IndyCar. Most of kid athletes aim for the big sports, like football, basketball, and baseball. The ones who care about motorsports probably think about NASCAR. Very few aspire to be in IndyCar..

Personally, I don't care much about the home country of the driver. It would be fascinating to see someone young, regardless of home country, to appear out of nowhere and suddenly dominate.

[marcostraz]

I don't think IndyCar needs more european talents, or american talents, or brazilian talents...IndyCar needs talents like all other series...but not because IndyCar has a low rate of talent...it's the opposite: 2013 grid was one of the most competitve ever...it's all about generational turnover, because some of the top drivers are around 40 yo and sooner or later they will retire...like Franchitti today...but there are a lot of good young drivers...europeans and americans...

[ace007]

Originally Posted by JacobP

Personally, I don't care much about the home country of the driver. It would be fascinating to see someone young, regardless of home country, to appear out of nowhere and suddenly dominate.

Give Sam Bird the Ganassi drive!! He is the next Montoya story!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by ace007

Give Sam Bird the Ganassi drive!! He is the next Montoya story!

No way. This is the No. 10 we're talking about, a top drive. You need stamina and a good nose for the ovals. Bird is practiced in sprint races and doesn't know the ovals so he would be a very speculative and silly choice for that drive. If they pick up anyone from GP2, it would be very reckless. Ganassi won't do it anyway. Montoya paid off for him but Minassian and Junquiera did not.

I don't care if they are European or American for any specific drive although overall they do no need a strong core of Americans to be at the core of this series. That is an essential prerequisite if Indycar want to inveigle their way back into the American public consciousness.

[chunterer]

Minassian was a bit of a flop, but I thought Bruno did ok, he had serious potential in single seaters until that huge shunt knocked the confidence out of him.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Minassian was a bit of a flop, but I thought Bruno did ok, he had serious potential in single seaters until that huge shunt knocked the confidence out of him.

Yes, I agree actually.