{"id":329312,"date":"2023-09-08T02:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T02:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329312"},"modified":"2023-09-08T04:02:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T04:02:03","slug":"indycars-next-dixon-kiwi-signs-landmark-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329312","title":{"rendered":"IndyCar's next Dixon? Kiwi signs landmark deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another New Zealander will be full-time in the IndyCar<\/a> grid in 2023, teaming up with childhood hero Scott Dixon.<\/p>\n

Marcus Armstrong competed part-time in this year's series for Chip Ganassi Racing alongside Dixon, champion Alex Palou, and last year's Indianapolis 500<\/a> winner Marcus Ericsson.<\/p>\n

After pursuing a career in Formula 1<\/a> with support from Ferrari and its driver academy, Armstrong moved Stateside where he turned his attention to IndyCar.<\/p>\n

Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 IndyCar Series, featuring Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon.<\/strong> All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Although Formula 1 was long his ultimate ambition, IndyCar is a close second. The 23-year-old grew up watching Dixon and was eight years old when the Kiwi racing legend won the Indianapolis 500.<\/p>\n

\"Marcus<\/p>\n

On the cusp of his first full season that will see him make his oval racing debut, Armstrong has signed a multi-year deal to stick with Chip Ganassi Racing.<\/p>\n

"It's a pretty special place to be really, especially at my age," said Armstrong.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Sickening' bouncer forces Aussie to abandon chase<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Pies star 'shattered' after brutal clash knocks out Demon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Change Rabbitohs need after stars 'fell off a cliff'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"It gives me the best opportunity to compete for championships, something that I believe I'll be capable of soon.<\/p>\n

"I feel like, had you told me two years ago that I'd be here, I probably wouldn't believe you. To think about it like that, it's a place exactly like I planned when I was eight years old."<\/p>\n

\"Six-time<\/p>\n

Armstrong admits it's a good feeling to race alongside someone he worshipped growing up.<\/p>\n

Dixon is widely considered to be one of New Zealand's best drivers who never made it to Formula 1.<\/p>\n

However, he's got it made in North America having won six IndyCar titles and sits second on the all-time race wins list behind the great AJ Foyt.<\/p>\n

"It's cool to be here learning by his side essentially," said Armstrong.<\/p>\n

\"Marcus<\/p>\n

"At this rate, Scott could be racing for the next 35 years," he joked. "So it's cool to be a part of his journey no matter where, which part of it may be.<\/p>\n

"I'm very, very lucky to learn from Scott and my other teammates as well. There's a reason that those other guys are here at Ganassi, and that's because they're phenomenal, they're a great talent and work ethic. So to learn from those guys, I'm very grateful."<\/p>\n

Although the calendar has not yet been released, the move from part-time to full-time will see Armstrong add a handful of races to his schedule.<\/p>\n

Those include Texas Motor Speedway, the famed Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the iconic Milwaukee Mile \u2013 a race that's reportedly set to be confirmed soon.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/IndyCar\/status\/1699796670169674111<\/a><\/p>\n

"I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be my first time on an oval. So I'll have a couple of people there to help me out my first day," he said of his first test in Texas later this month.<\/p>\n

"Ultimately, I think I'm going to sort of respect the learning process for the first day. I'm not going to try and break a lap record on my first lap. But I'm going to sort of go in and keep my eyes open in the sense that I want to learn as much as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Like I've said a couple of times, ovals are a completely different game. I mean, I've got all the data in the world to compare to, so I'm going to keep my eyes open, learn as much as possible, and trust my instincts as well."<\/p>\n

With Armstrong's confirmation, it means four drivers from New Zealand will feature. The other two are Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) and Tom Blomqvist (Meyer Shank Racing).\ufeff<\/p>\n

The IndyCar Series season comes to a close at Laguna Seca on September 11 with coverage of the 95-lap race on Monday at 4.30am AEST.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another New Zealander will be full-time in the IndyCar grid in 2023, teaming up with childhood hero Scott Dixon. Marcus Armstrong competed part-time in this […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329312"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329322,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329312\/revisions\/329322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/329314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}