Carlin confirms IndyCar graduation with Chilton, Kimball, Chevrolet - MotorSportsTalk

Carlin’s long-rumored and even more long-awaited step-up into the Verizon IndyCar Series has become a reality.

Trevor Carlin’s team has confirmed the first details of its graduation into the top level championship in North America, and sees the team that has been one of the best training grounds for countless drivers for decades in Europe and now the last three years in the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires at the highest level of a series.

Carlin’s Indy Lights accolades, among other items, included a double win on debut with Ed Jones at St. Petersburg in 2015, Jones claiming the team’s first Indy Lights title in 2016, and Matheus Leist winning this year’s Freedom 100.

_{AVONDALE, AZ – APRIL 28: Charlie Kimball, driver of the #83 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and Max Chilton of Great Britain, driver of the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda talk on the grid before qualifying for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway on April 28, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)}

The team has confirmed a two-car Chevrolet-powered entry for 2018 to be driven by Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball.

“We’re delighted to finally be able to announce our entry into the Verizon IndyCar Series, the result of a long-term ambition of the team,” Team Principal Trevor Carlin said. “To be joined on that journey in our debut season by brands such as Gallagher and Novo Nordisk and with drivers we already have a race winning history with in Max and Charlie, is beyond what we could have expected. By no means do we underestimate the challenge and competition that lies ahead, but I have great faith in the young and passionate team that our Team Manager Colin [Hale] and I have put together.”

On the IndyCar side, Chilton shifts to Carlin after driving with Chip Ganassi Racing the last two years. Chilton’s father Grahame is CEO of the Carlin team and Max had the chance to drive for them in GP2 for two seasons, finishing fourth in 2012, and in Indy Lights in 2015, finishing fifth.

Alongside him, another of Chilton’s teammate from Ganassi the last two years, Kimball, will also make the switch to Carlin. Kimball raced for Carlin in British F3 in 2005, and finished second behind teammate Alvaro Parente. His IndyCar career has been entirely spent with Ganassi, from 2011 through 2017.

Both continue with longtime partners Gallagher and Novo Nordisk.

“We are proud to partner with Carlin in the Verizon IndyCar Series for 2018 and look forward to the thrilling prospect of driver Max Chilton winning with our Gallagher brand prominently featured on his Chevrolet. Millions of fans around the world enjoy this sport, as do our clients and employees.

“It is our intent to leverage this sponsorship to showcase Gallagher’s extensive brokerage services and risk management expertise and to celebrate the values of innovation and collaboration our brokers and sales consultants deploy in creating solutions for their clients around the globe,” said Christopher E. Mead, Chief Marketing Officer for Gallagher.

“As we begin the 10th year of our partnership with Charlie Kimball, we are excited to continue the legacy of the Race with Insulin program to inspire people with diabetes to pursue their dreams and support them in their disease management journey,” said David Moore, senior vice president, Commercial, Novo Nordisk. “We are encouraged by our new relationship with Carlin, who has a proven reputation for winning in a variety of motorsports series. We are looking forward to being part of a strong season in 2018 for Charlie, Race with Insulin and for the entire Carlin family.”

Carlin’s listed its IndyCar headquarters in Delray Beach, Fla., same as where its Indy Lights program has been set up the last two seasons after moving from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. where it started.

Jones took home Carlin’s first Indy Lights title in 2016, and established himself in the U.S. from his first ever weekend following a weekend sweep at St. Petersburg in both his and Carlin’s series debut in 2015.

In three years in Indy Lights, the team has expanded its car count each year. Jones and Chilton were teammates in 2015 with Nelson Piquet Jr. filling in for Chilton at Toronto as he was at Le Mans with Nissan’s LMP1 program. Jones returned for a sophomore season in 2016 alongside Felix Serralles and Neil Alberico. Alberico was meant to be team leader in 2017 as part of a four-car effort, but both Leist and Zachary Claman DeMelo and won races with Garth Rickards rounding out the quartet.

Jones, Chilton and Leist make up Carlin’s immediate Indy Lights-to-IndyCar alumni, with Claman DeMelo poised to join them if he secures a spot, and countless others – including both Kimball and reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden – who can count Carlin as a previous stopping point on their own roads to Indy.

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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