Afternoon Update from Global Rallycross

Michael Andretti

It's about 2:30 p.m. here at RFK Stadium. The GRC Supercars have about 18 minutes remaining in their final practice before qualifying later today.

I bumped into Andretti Autosport IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti about a half hour ago. Andretti, of course fields Volkswagen Beetles for Tanner Foust and Scott Speed in Red Bull Global Rallycross. I asked Andretti about a host of topics pertaining to his various racing endeavors. However, for now, I will simply share a few of the details from our conversation about Formula E.

–With Simona de Silvestro signed to run one of Andretti's Formula E cars, I asked if Matthew Brabham was a candidate for the second seat. Brabham, who won the 2013 Pro Mazda Series championship driving for Andretti, and tested an IndyCar for the team yesterday at Sonoma. ran two round in Formula E this past season. Andretti said very simply, "he's on the short list."

–Andretti also made clear that his plan for the second Formula E season was to have two full-time drivers. Of course, last year, the Andretti team fielded 8 drivers over 10 race weekends, which Andretti said was the plan going in. While Franck Montagny's drug suspension forced a replacement in one car, Andretti's goal all along was to rotate drivers in the second car.

–Apparently however, such a driver Rota will not be allowed next year. While I didn't get all the details, there will be a regulation in place maximizing driver change outs in Formula E. Last season, a total of 35 drivers competed for the ten teams. There will some sort of regulation prohibiting such frequent changes next season.

–Overall Andretti was happy with the first season of Formula E noting that the series "put on great shows, and all the feedback we got was really positive."

We'll have more later.

Brian Carroccio reporting for AutoRacing1