Daly again eyes IndyCar, to test with SPM

UPDATE Thanks to Marco Andretti who put up $3K to help pay for the test, American Conor Daly is getting his first test in a Dallara DW12 in almost two full years next week.

Daly, who tested for and later raced for A.J. Foyt Enterprises in 2013, will step into the second Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda alongside friend James Hinchcliffe, the team's first confirmed driver for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

"This is the chance I've been working toward for a long time," Daly told NBC's MotorSportsTalk. "I know Sam has always had a strong team and I hope to show them what I've learned over the last four seasons in Europe. It will be very helpful working with an experienced teammate and friend, James. I can't wait to get on track again."

09/02/14

Conor Daly

American GP2 driver Conor Daly is targeting a full-time return to US in 2015 with the ambition of finding a place on the IndyCar grid he told Autosport.

"There's no 'abandoning' anything," he said. "It's making a career move that I think is the right time to do, and the right situation, and the right momentum that IndyCar has got right now.

"There's a sense of not a lot of momentum in the young driver paddock in Europe right now, and that's kind of the reason why a lot of the guys in GP3 and GP2 ask me how they can get to IndyCar.

"There's just a sense that there is more momentum here [in the US], more good things happening for drivers rather than is what is happening in Europe.

"For me, I want to be in IndyCar, without a doubt. Like, 150 million per cent – which I know is physically not possible, but we're going to put that many zeroes on it. This is the right time."

Daly says that he has already been in contact with teams and potential sponsors about a 2015 IndyCar ride, but admits that he still needs to secure funding in order to make it happen.

"I think some teams are on the cusp of adding another car," he said. "It could all just be a bunch of talk, but there seems to be a lot of interest from different teams in having me in the series.

"That's awesome to hear, but it wouldn't hurt if I came with a grocery bag filled with a couple of million dollars.

"But that's my side of things; I have to work on that myself every day. Over the last few weeks I've been meeting with people with a sole focus on IndyCar.

"I think there's a lot more respect now that I've done GP2 and not just GP3; it's a lot of experience, and I think it will really work if I get that opportunity in IndyCar." autosport.com