8Star closing on Indy Lights confirmation with Sean Rayhall as one driver

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AUSTIN, Texas – After 8Star Motorsports announced its intentions to run in the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the team is close to a decision to determine whether it will pull the trigger.

Team principal Enzo Potolicchio has meetings this weekend in anticipation of a decision next week, as the team plans to place a deposit on two of the new Dallara IL15 chassis.

One of the cars would be for rising American star Sean Rayhall, who currently serves as one of 8Star’s drivers in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge class (with Luis Diaz for sprint races).

“We didn’t want to join before because of the old car, as it was due to be changed,” Potolicchio told MotorSportsTalk. “We were very excited, it’s an attractive package and the AER engine looks nice and reliable. We want to come in now and there’s a new baseline. We have IndyCar experience from our team manager (Gary Neal) and engineer (Yves Touron), so we know what we need to do be competitive. We’re working with one driver really hard to support him as the next American superstar. He can be a title contender. We really believe in him.”

Potolicchio was at last week’s Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway observing the new Indy Lights car in action.

“We registered as a team, we were at Indy looking at the test. Very excited,” he said. “Next week we will make a decision after meetings. A lot of interest. We’ve been approached with a lot of people. We can do the job and be competitive. Good name, good brand in sports cars.”

An Indy Lights program would be the first of a multifaceted open-wheel platform the team looks to develop in the coming years.

“We had to align some other things and make a decision next week and place a deposit. Likely 15 (cars) first race but there’s a lot of work and lot of development to be done. No weather issues, close tracks in Florida so we can test the right way,” he said.

“To be a successful team we can’t concentrate on just one series. We need multiple, and we need to do IndyCar and Indy Lights. We want to be in Indy 500 eventually and Indy Lights is the first step.”

8Star Motorsports plans to continue in the TUDOR Championship with a customer Prototype Challenge program and a potential P2-spec car to run in Prototypes.

As for Rayhall, running in Indy Lights would be a return to his roots.

“There’s meetings and steps in the right direction to do Indy Lights, with long races in the NAEC,” he said. “It would be a return to my roots after Skip Barber, there’s guys like Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly that I know.

“It’s just taken the right people and the right funding to make it happen. Now I have that with Enzo and 8Star,” he added. “I had to take a stock car detour but I want to get back into it. I’m pushing hard to make it happen with the people around me.”

Roger Penske discusses flying tire at Indy 500 with Dallara executives: ‘We’ve got to fix that’

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INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske spoke with Dallara executives Monday morning about the loose tire that went flying over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway catchfence and into a Turn 2 parking lot.

The left-rear wheel from Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Dallara-Honda was sheared off in a collision at speed as Kirkwood tried to avoid the skidding No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 183 of the 107th Indianapolis 500.

No one seriously was hurt in the incident (including Kirkwood, whose car went upside down and slid for several hundred feet), though an Indianapolis woman’s Chevy Cruze was struck by the tire. The Indy Star reported a fan was seen and released from the care center after sustaining minor injuries from flying debris in the crash.

During a photo shoot Monday morning with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden at the IMS Yard of Bricks, Penske met with Dallara founder and owner Gian Paolo Dallara and Dallara USA CEO Stefano dePonti. The Italian company has been the exclusive supplier of the current DW12 chassis to the NTT IndyCar series for 11 years.

“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tire going out (of the track),” Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, told a few reporters shortly afterward. “I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were OK. I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the shear (force) from when (Rosenqvist’s) car was sitting, (Kirkwood’s car) went over and just that shear force tore that tether. Because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.

“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”

Asked by NBC Sports if IndyCar would be able to address it before Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix or before the next oval race at Iowa Speedway, Penske said, “The technical guys should look at it. I think the speed here, a couple of hundred (mph) when you hit it vs. 80 or 90 or whatever it might be, but that was a pinch point on the race.”

In a statement released Monday to WTHR and other media outlets, IndyCar said that it was “in possession of the tire in Sunday’s incident and found that the tether did not fail. This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again. IndyCar takes the safety of the drivers and fans very seriously. We are pleased and thankful that no one was hurt.”

IndyCar provided no further explanation for how the wheel was separated from the car without the tether failing.

IndyCar began mandating wheel suspension tethers using high-performance Zylon material after a flying tire killed three fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a May 1, 1999 race. Three fans also were struck and killed by a tire at Michigan International Speedway during a July 26, 1998 race.

The IndyCar tethers can withstand a force of more than 22,000 pounds, and the rear wheel tethers were strengthened before the 2023 season.