Trevor Carlin remains interested in moving his Carlin Motorsports team into the Verizon IndyCar Series, and says the decision whether to join the series in 2018 is imminent.
The recent rumours around the IndyCar world would seem to indicate Carlin will be on the grid in 2018, with Chip Ganassi Racing refugees Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball the most likely driver pairing, although they are far from the only ones in the reckoning.
Chilton in particular has been linked to the team thanks to his father Grahame being a co-owner of Carlin, and Ganassi’s decision to reduce its entries from four to two in 2018 has left the Briton on the sidelines at this time.
“When we start something, we like to stay in it,” said Carlin on Autosport. “There hasn’t been a right moment in the past, but I think the right moment is approaching.
“I’m not going to stand here now and say it’s a done deal, but I would say that the odds on us being on the grid next year are the highest they’ve ever been. It’s just a case of putting the package together now.”
Carlin admits that the introduction of the universal aero kit in 2018 would make the move into the series much easier than it would have been in 2017, which saw the last year of the Honda vs. Chevrolet aero kit rivalry.
“That’s a bonus for us, really,” admitted Carlin. “I think we would have been looking to do it next year anyway.
“The fact is, the new aerokit is perfect because, obviously the big teams have got massive resources where they can do testing and aero this and that, but I think that it does level the playing field for a team like us that could come in.”
