IndyCar
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
INDYCAR: Lotus/Alesi Indy 500 Deal Done?
With Newman/Haas telling SPEED it has passed on running Jean Alesi at Indy, could another team be waiting in the wings to field the Lotus-powered deal?
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted May 03, 2012  
Jean Alesi's last competitive outing took place at Le Mans in 2010 where he finished fourth in the GT2 class driving a Ferrari F430 with fellow ex-F1 man Giancarlo Fisichella. (Photo: LAT)
With Newman/Haas confirming it has officially passed on running Jean Alesi at Indy, could another team be waiting in the wings to field the Lotus-powered deal?

SPEED.com has learned that Lotus' anchor team, HVM Racing, is one of a handful of teams considering whether to run the 47-year-old ex-Formula One driver during his first attempt to qualify for the 500.

Reached by telephone on Thursday, HVM owner Keith Wiggins offered a simple "No comment" when asked about the possibility of running the Frenchman alongside Simona de Silvestro, his full-time driver.

Alesi, known as one of the hardest chargers during a 13-year F1 career that came to a conclusion in 2001, switched to the DTM between 2002-2006, and has raced sporadically in tin-tops and sports cars in recent years.

But with more than a decade having gone by since his last serious outing in an open-wheel car and zero experience on ovals to draw from, the appeal of running the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix winner is proving to be somewhat limited.

Reports circulated at Long Beach that Lotus was shopping a deal worth somewhere between $500,000-$750,000 for a team to take Alesi, and with Newman/Haas now out of the picture, the financial incentive to field a car for the former Ferrari pilot could be of interest to teams in need of a cash injection.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett on Twitter.
MPruett's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marshall Pruett

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.