The few free places left for this year’s Indy 500 are more coveted than ever, a reality magnified by the lower availability of chassis and engines based on economic and logistical issues and pending rule changes for the coming years. Without going further, Andretti Autosport It does not have in its plans to field a sixth car in this year’s edition, but its four full-time drivers will have an extra partner in the figure of Marco Andretti.
For the second consecutive year, the big event in Indianapolis will be the only appearance of the season for Marco, who will turn 35 in March. After several years of disappointment that culminated in a disastrous 20th place in the 2020 season, grandson of Mario Andretti and son of owner Michael Andretti vacated his permanent position in car #98 in 2021 to face more select and varied programs. He did not give up, yes, an Indy 500 that has been his great pending account throughout his career.
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Although his presence in the team as the fifth driver was taken for granted, this was not officially confirmed by Andretti Autosport until this Tuesday, when the identity of the technology sponsor that will adorn his car this year was announced. With this, Marco will seek to have a totally different experience at the Indy 500 than last year, where he went more unnoticed than ever with his second worst ranking (25th place) and a 19th place finish In race.
To his credit, Andretti has five top 5 in this appointment, but the last one dates from 2014where he ended up escorting Ryan Hunter-Reay and Hélio Castroneves in the same third position that he had already achieved in 2008 and 2010. He has never had it as close as in his debut, a 2006 in which he snatched the lead a few laps from the end to his father Michael (who had returned after three years in retirement to share the track with his son), but in which he lost the race a few meters from the checkered flag with an in-extremis pass from Sam Hornish Jr. that went around the world.
In 2020 he flirted with the honeys of success in Indianapolis again with his first pole at this event, but his car in the race never came close to that level of competitiveness and he ended up back in no man’s land. This only aggravated a crisis of confidence and results that had already lasted five years (22 top 10 finishes in the 81 races between 2016 and 2020, without a single podium), far from the consistent performance of 2013 that saw him lead the championship at times and finish fifth overall.
In addition to Indianapolis, last year Andretti made his long-awaited return to the world of endurance, disputing the 6 hours from Watkins Glenand competed in the six events of the summer Superstar Racing Experience, where he took on identical stock cars against American stars of yesterday and today on dirt ovals. With a victory at Slinger Speedway and a final fourth position in the table, he surpassed other active IndyCar drivers such as Hélio Castronves or Tony Kanaan, who also participated in this contest.
Like this the things, Marco Andretti will share establishment with Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, and Devlin DeFrancesco. Some of these names already enjoy great media attention for different reasons, but none currently competes with the power and prestige of their surname in the United States, being for now the final line of a saga of champions that he has not been able to prolong. His fate, whatever it may be, seems to be another, but on the track he considers that he has not yet said the last word about him.