Who will replace James Hinchcliffe as Honda Spokesperson? (Update)

Hinchcliffe to lose his 2 Honda gigs

UPDATE According to Autosport James Hinchcliffe will stay on with what will become McLaren Racing SP into the 2020 IndyCar Series season so he is definitely out as a Honda spokesperson.

"We're very pleased James is staying, absolutely," Sam Schmidt told Autosport, "although I'm not sure why there was all that speculation.

"Yes, it was unfortunate that we had to change engine supplier – unfortunate for us, unfortunate for him – but we had to make a change in order to join forces with McLaren, and the pros far exceeded the cons there.

"James had a year left on his contract with us, and I always wanted the continuity of going into next season with at least one established driver with measurable experience and talent and wins under his belt.

"So there was willingness on both sides to continue as per our contract."

Our 2020 IndyCar Silly Season page has been updated accordingly

08/13/19 Our sources tell us that James Hinchcliffe is likely to honor his contract with Arrow SPM that runs thru 2020 and will become Arrow McLaren SP.

This means Hinchcliffe can no longer be a Honda Spokesperson.

As for James continuing on as a Honda spokesman in television commercials here in the US, that is an annual agreement. It likely will be reviewed by both parties in the off-season and we expect will not be renewed since he will be driving a Chevy powered car next year.

We believe that his agreement with Honda Canada is similar in nature. Here is a statement issued last Friday by Honda Canada:

“With regards to the announcement made on August 9th by Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports partnering with McLaren Racing, Honda Canada’s relationship with Arrow driver James Hinchcliffe will continue as planned for the duration of the 2019 racing season. Any new contract moving forward will be subject to our regular business processes".

Will Honda choose to just discontinue the use of an IndyCar driver as spokesperson, or will they engage the likes of an American this time, such as Ryan Hunter-Reay or Alexander Rossi?