Andretti Autosport will have the services of former F1 tester and GP2 and A1 Grand Prix driver Adam Carroll in select IZOD IndyCar Series events later this year.
Carroll, a native of Northern Ireland, is 27 years old and is coming off winning the 2008-2009 A1GP championship for Team Ireland. He is expected to compete for AA during the second half of this year’s campaign.
“It is gratifying to know that the success I’ve enjoyed so far in my career has drawn the attention of a team owner like Michael Andretti,” said Carroll in a team release. “The IZOD IndyCar Series is clearly one of the most competitive formulas in the world right now and I’m looking forward to being introduced into the field this year.”
According to Marshall Pruett of SPEEDTV.com, Carroll’s role with the team is far from defined (the same goes for which races he’ll run, what car he’ll drive, and who will be his sponsor). Pruett writes that options for Carroll include serving as Ryan Hunter-Reay’s replacement if the team is unable to get him full-season funding and being a fifth driver for the team if Hunter-Reay stays on.
But Pruett throws out an interesting possibility in his report of AA staying as a four-car squad with Hunter-Reay and Carroll as two of the drivers. Keep Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti in the fold, and you start to see Carroll as a potential replacement for…you guessed it…Danica Patrick. There’s been some talk about her leaving early to go full-time in NASCAR despite having a two-year contract with Andretti; such is mentioned in one of Curt Cavin’s recent Q&As.
But that’s far from cut and dry, so let’s let that situation develop on its own first.
