HPD working to accommodate additional IndyCar supply requests

Honda Performance Development has been clear in its preference on limiting its NTT IndyCar Series supply to 16 full-time teams next season. With the decision by Chip Ganassi Racing to add an extra entry to its stable for rookie Kyffin Simpson, questions have been raised about whether providing a fifth lease for CGR has come at the expense of another Honda-powered team like Andretti Global, which is pondering a reduction from four cars to three, or other teams that might want to expand in 2024.

“The truth is, we’re still trying to sort everything out because it is that time of year, but we would not pull engines away from other people where we’ve agreed to support them,” HPD president David Salters told RACER. “That’s not fair. Obviously, Chip and CGR do an awfully good job, and all the quality people there is stunning.

“So from our point, anything we can do to help CGR, we’re all-in because they are extremely good. And then it’s always nice to see younger people coming into the series and there’s some good talent we’re going to have among the drivers, which is great.”

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Salters expects to have more clarity on exactly how many season-long entries it will support in the coming weeks.

“It’s tricky, and we don’t want to just go for lots and lots of engines because we’re here to be competitive, but plainly, we’re trying to help teams and we’re trying to help the series,” he said. “No good deed goes unpunished normally, but we’re busily trying to figure it out at the moment and there won’t be any silliness. We’re just trying to accommodate people as best we can, so we’ve got to balance all that stuff out and we’re getting closer to knowing what the answer will be.”

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