Romain Grosjean will join Andretti Autosport full time in 2022

LONG BEACH, California — Romain Grosjean will drive for Andretti Autosport during the 2022 season with DHL sponsorship on the No. 28 Dallara-Honda, the team announced Friday

It’ll be the 12th consecutive season for Andretti and DHL, which had been the full sponsor for Ryan Hunter-Reay since his 2012 championship season. Hunter-Reay will be leaving Andretti after the 2021 season, pairing Grosjean with returning drivers Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi.

During a news conference Friday afternoon, team owner Michael Andretti said Grosjean’s deal was for two years. Andretti, which also has fielded James Hinchcliffe full time in 2021, has yet to confirm its fourth driver for 2022.

Olivier Boisson, who has been Grosjean’s engineer at Dale Coyne Racing this season, will follow the driver (and fellow Frenchman) to the Andretti team. Grosjean also said his family will live in the Miami area, where his three children will be able to attend a French-speaking school and his family will have access to direct flights to Paris.

DHL will be a primary sponsor for Grosjean in the No. 28 for all but six races next season.

In his rookie IndyCar season since leaving Formula One, Grosjean has recorded a pole position and three podium finishes (most recently at Laguna Seca Raceway last Sunday).

In moving to a full-time schedule next year after focusing nearly exclusively on road and street courses this season, Grosjean, 35, will be making his Indianapolis 500 debut. He will test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for the first time Oct. 8.

“We are thrilled to welcome Romain to the Andretti Autosport family,” team owner Michael Andretti said in a release. “He already had an impressive resume before coming to INDYCAR and watching what he’s been able to do in his rookie season here has been exciting to say the least. His vast motorsport experience will be beneficial to the team alongside our already strong 2022 driver lineup. We also couldn’t be more excited to continue our strong partnership with DHL. The DHL sponsorship is one of the longest and most successful in the paddock and we look forward to continued success on and off the track.”

“We couldn’t be happier to continue our successful partnership with Andretti Autosport, which has provided us with one of our most powerful avenues for connecting people to our global brand,” Mike Parra, CEO of DHL Express Americas, said in a release. “The legendary Andretti organization is run by a winning team whose members we have long considered part of our DHL family, and now we are excited to also welcome their newest driver, Romain Grosjean, to our family. We are thrilled to have such a highly regarded international competitor taking the wheel to represent DHL, and we look forward to a fruitful partnership with Romain and the entire Andretti team, both on and off the track.”

Grosjean finished a career-best second in both races this season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, starting from the pole position for the first time in the May 15 race.

“I’m delighted to be joining Andretti Autosport and driving the No. 28 DHL Honda for next season,” Grosjean said in a release. “It’s a big honor to be joining such a great team as Andretti, anyone in the motorsport world knows the name Andretti. I’m super happy and proud to be racing with the team. I’m also very proud to be representing with DHL. I’ve known the DHL color on racing cars for a very long time. I couldn’t be more proud to represent such a great company in INDYCAR. I’m hoping that we are going to be very successful together, which is our aim on every side. I would like also to thank Dale Coyne Racing for giving me the opportunity to join INDYCAR. I’ve enjoyed the racing so much and it’s given me the change today to be racing with one of the most competitive and best teams in the world.”

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.

Romain Grosjean will join Andretti Autosport full time for 2022 IndyCar season

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

Read more about SuperMotocross