British race team Carlin to expand to Indy Lights in 2015

Trevor Carlin is expanding his successful race team to the USA

British race team Carlin will expand in 2015 to incorporate the American series Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. The multi-race and championship winning team will add the INDYCAR-sanctioned feeder series to its already comprehensive ladder of junior formula, taking drivers from karting to the door of the pinnacle of single-seater motorsport.

The British team, which has its U.K. headquarters in Farnham, Surrey, has previously worked with drivers such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Riccardo and Nico Rosberg, as well as Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Will Power, Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden, Takuma Sato, Mikhail Aleshin, Graham Rahal and Carlos Huertas in the junior stages of their careers.

The Carlin Indy Lights team will operate out of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., with personnel from both the U.K. and the U.S.

The Indy Lights series enters a new era in 2015, with the introduction of an all new car featuring a 450bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged engine produced by AER. The car also features a 50bhp push-to-pass feature and races on Cooper Tires, a manufacturer that Carlin are already familiar with through the team's multiple British F3 titles. With a chassis from Dallara, the Indy Lights series will see Carlin continue a long relationship with the Italian race car manufacturer. Lighter than its predecessor at 635kg and with more power, the IL-15 promises to be an exciting challenge for young drivers.

The new Indy Lights car is drawing more entries than first expected

The Series is also the perfect training ground for young drivers. Of the 2014 Indy 500 starting grid, no fewer than 19 drivers had an Indy Lights background.

Racing Director Trevor Carlin commented, "We're extremely excited to be taking the Carlin team to the U.S. and embarking on this new challenge into the Indy Lights series. We've had one eye on the U.S. for some time now and the time is right to widen our focus. We're seeing more and more drivers look across the Atlantic from categories such as Formula 3 and GP2 Series to careers in Indy Lights and IndyCar and it makes sense as a European team to offer that route to our customers.

"While we remain completely focused on our race programs in Europe, it is also important to take on new challenges and projects that maintain our momentum as a company of people. By offering new opportunities we are able to offer strong team members new goals and challenges internally and retain them within Carlin. By no means do we underestimate the challenge ahead but we believe we have a great team of people to help us be competitive in Indy Lights. We see this as an important new chapter for Carlin and the entire team are excited for the future."