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Manufacturers flock to F1, IMSA and WEC leaving IndyCar sucking wind

Posted by AR1 staff

While auto manufacturers are flocking to Formula 1, IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, IndyCar is on its 13th year sucking wind – still looking for that elusive third OEM.

IMSA

Eighteen automakers are competing in IMSA-Sanctioned Series in 2023. Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche all are fielding entries in the top category GTP, which replaces the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class.

Complete List

  1. Acura
  2. Alfa Romeo
  3. Aston Martin
  4. Audi
  5. BMW
  6. Cadillac
  7. Chevrolet
  8. Ferrari
  9. Ford
  10. Honda
  11. Hyundai
  12. Lamborghini
  13. Lexus
  14. Mazda
  15. McLaren
  16. Mercedes-AMG
  17. Porsche
  18. Toyota

World Endurance Championship

Total of nine manufacturers represented across all categories.

Complete List

  1. Cadillac
  2. Ferrari
  3. Peugeot
  4. Porsche
  5. Toyota
  6. Glickenhaus
  7. Vanwall
  8. Chevrolet
  9. Aston Martin

Formula 1

With 75 million people around the globe watching each F1 race, and with Liberty Media leadership, manufacturers are flocking to the series despite the extremely high cost of entry.

With that many fans, just about every manufacturer is champing at the bit to get in front of them.

Global interest in Formula 1 is at an all-time and still growing, especially in the USA where there will now be three F1 races per year with a 4th rumored.

By 2026 or 2027 Formula 1 is expected to have the following auto manufacturers in the paddock:

  1. Aston Martin – Chassis using Mercedes power units
  2. Alfa Romeo – Haas Team badging a Ferrari engine (Rumored – Speculation)
  3. Audi – Sauber/Audi team
  4. Cadillac – Andretti Global team – will Cadillac badge a Renault or Honda Power Unit or co-design a power unit with Ilmor
  5. Ferrari – Ferrari and Haas teams
  6. Ford – Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams
  7. Honda – Panthera Asia Team or possibly a badging deal with Cadillac (Rumored – Speculation)
  8. Hyundai – Panthera Asia Team (Rumored – Speculation)
  9. Mercedes  – Mercedes
  10. McLaren – Chassis using Mercedes Power Units
  11. Porsche – with Williams (Rumored – Strong)
  12. Renault – Alpine team and maybe Andretti with Cadillac badging the Renault engine

IndyCar

When Tony George refused to sell IndyCar and IMS to Liberty Media, its fate was sealed. With all the primary manufacturers committed to the three series above, it will be difficult for IndyCar to land another big manufacturer, but not impossible.

Being essentially a ‘spec’ series, the racing in IndyCar is good, the competition is close and almost anyone can win on any given Sunday. That is similar to other ‘spec’ series like Indy NXT, Formula 2 and Formula 3.

Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Kia and Dodge are out there, as are manufacturers from Americas enemy countries – Russia and China.

Over the 13 years IndyCar has been trying to land a third manufacturer, just about every automaker has been rumored to be eyeing IndyCar, but so far none have materialized.

The only ones we don’t think have been rumored are John Deere, Mahindra, Massey Ferguson, Case IH, Sonalika, Kubota, Fendt and of course CAT, but if enough years go by, who knows.

Complete List

  1. Chevy – currently power half the cars
  2. Honda – currently power half the cars

Mark Cipolloni reporting for AutoRacing1.com