The winter break in IndyCar continues to bring surprises in the form of outstanding drivers on the European scene. The success of Álex Palou, the sports renaissance of Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson, the debut of Kevin Magnussen, the incursion of young talents such as Callum Ilott or Christian Lundgaard, the unsuccessful flirtations of António Félix da Costa and the recent test of Nico Hülkenberg have been the last consequences of a trend that intensifies with each passing year, reinforced by the ups and downs of other competitions. The last to join this list are Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne, who will carry out their first IndyCar test this December.
Both are Mercedes official drivers in Formula E, with De Vries being crowned the first world champion of the discipline last August, but the German brand will leave the category at the end of the 2022 season. Beyond a future potential in the electric formula with another team, the Belgian and the Dutch are willing to explore their options for the future, and the two will have his first experience with the Dallara IR18 at the Sebring Club circuit on December 6, with two different teams that will use their days of ‘evaluation test’ for this purpose.
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From the hand of McLaren SP, Vandoorne will meet again with the entity that recruited him for his junior program in 2013 and with which he competed for two years as a Formula 1 driver, being 16th in both with two seventh places as the best result and a total background of 26 points. The British team, which tested Hülkenberg at the request of the German before he ruled out a future in the category, continues to evaluate potential candidates for a third car they intend to line up in selected 2022 tests for a full program in 2023. The 29-year-old Belgian had already been mentioned as a possibility, both by Zak Brown in September, and by Taylor Kiel, president of McLaren SP, in October.
For its part, De Vries will receive an unexpected alternative from Meyer Shank Racing, a formation that triumphed in the last 500 miles of Indianapolis with the four-time winner Hélio Castroneves, and that redoubles its efforts this year with the participation of the full-time Brazilian and the arrival of the illustrious Simon Pagenaud. Without going any further, yesterday Shank announced by surprise that his resistance team at IMSA will have the services of the British Tom blomqvist at the wheel of one of his DPi-class Acura ARX-05s.
“We scheduled this test a while ago. Nyck is someone who really stands out, a true ‘rockstar’», Assures Mike Shank in statements to Motorsport.com about the 27-year-old Dutchman. Formula 2 Champion, Formula E Champion … Is this a potential option for us? I don’t know, but I’ll make sure we have all the bases covered. It could be in a prototype, in an IndyCar … we want to see how it goes. It will be interesting to see the comparison with Vandoorne, being partners, but we know that both are very good.
Since his departure from Formula 1, Vandoorne has focused his activity on Formula E, where he has been ninth this year after his 2020 runner-up, and on endurance, climbing to the absolute podium in the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2019. This year he has contested all the tests of the World Endurance at the wheel of an LMP2, being second in his class at Le Mans and repeating that position in the general classification. Paradoxically, Bloqmvist has been one of his companions throughout the season, as well as an opponent in electric cars as a driver of NIO 333.
With the doors of Formula 1 locked tight despite its 2019 title, the Formula E title in his second season has been the great accolade for a De Vries who has also emerged by endurance as an LMP2 pilot with much less success, without going beyond the seventh position in his class in three starts at Le Mans, two seasons without great achievements in the World Endurance Championship and two fifth places in the general of the European Le Mans Series. With the presence of Rinus VeeKay and the success of Arie Luyendyk in the 90s, IndyCar cannot be said to be inhospitable terrain for the Dutch …