SONOMA, Calif. - Ed Carpenter Racing made a 2018 driver announcement on Wednesday with confirmation Spencer Pigot is set to move into a full-time seat in the Verizon IndyCar Series, replacing JR Hildebrand.
Carpenter’s got another move of a bigger variety about 2018 coming up at the end of the calendar year.
NBC Sports can confirm the team will move shops from its hub on Main St. in downtown Speedway, Ind., at 1255 Main St., in the shadow of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to the former Forsythe Racing shop located at 7231 Georgetown Rd., in Indianapolis next season.
Carpenter said the team will have to vacate its existing shop in Speedway by December 31, and is scheduled to move into the old Forsythe shop before January, 2018. The team’s staff has been informed of the change of location.
That Forsythe shop most recently housed the Nissan LMP1 program, which was shuttered in December, 2015 after racing only once at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Wink Hartman, the former co-owner of the team then known as CFH Racing following the 2014 amalgamation of the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing teams, owns the building in Speedway. Hartman is now running for Governor of Kansas and ceased being an official team co-owner once CFH Racing dissolved following 2015, and the team revived the Ed Carpenter Racing name before 2016.
A new tenant is likely for 2018, with rumors swirling it could be either Carlin, which has not formally announced a step-up to the Verizon IndyCar Series from its Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires program, or Harding Racing, which leased space in Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s shop in Indianapolis this year for its initial three-race entry with driver Gabby Chaves.
Carlin’s Indy Lights team is based in Delray Beach, Florida.
Carpenter’s team concludes the 2017 season with Pigot and Hildebrand this weekend, in Hildebrand’s home race not far from his hometown of Sausalito, Calif. and in his last scheduled drive with the team he’s been with over parts of the last four seasons.