Andretti, Herta Confirm Partnership Extension; Is Rossi Next?

Andretti Autosport and Bryan Herta Autosport confirmed Friday that they’ll continue co-running the No. 98 IndyCar entry in 2017 – but what about the driver?

The IndyCar partnership between Andretti Autosport and Bryan Herta Autosport will continue for at least one more season, with the teams announcing Friday that they’d reached an agreement to keep collaborating next year.

The deal means that the No. 98 BHA-Andretti entry will be on the grid, but does it also indirectly confirm that Alexander Rossi will be driving it?

Rossi piloted the No. 98 to an Indianapolis 500 victory this May and has been rumored to be working on a new contract that would keep him in IndyCar for the next three years, but nothing has been announced yet.

However, IndyCar also alerted the media that Rossi will be speaking on a conference call Monday. That plus news of the Andretti-Herta deal would seem to prove that the rumors are true and Rossi will continue on in 2017.

It certainly wouldn’t make sense for IndyCar to host a conference call just for Rossi to say that he’s returning to Formula One, and one fathoms Andretti-Herta wouldn’t announce their plans unless they had them reasonably firmed up.

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We’ll find out on Monday if Rossi is part of this new deal, but for now team owners Michael Andretti and Bryan Herta are naturally bullish on continuing to work together.

Here’s part of what Herta (pictured above) had to say in his league statement:

"I am super thrilled to continue our partnership with Andretti Autosport. We have a lot of exciting plans for the team throughout the off-season that I know can only make us more competitive for the 2017 season.Last year came together quite late, but this year we’ve committed early and that can only help better prepare us for next season."

Assuming that Rossi does extend his tenure in the No. 98, Andretti Autosport is taking big strides to improve itself after an otherwise rough 2016 season. Earlier this week it was reported that the team would sign championship engineer Eric Bretzman away from Chip Ganassi Racing to serve in an overall engineering capacity at Andretti.

It also puts them back on par with rivals Team Penske, as top free agent Josef Newgarden made public his departure from Ed Carpenter Racing on Thursday and is widely expected to sign with Penske.

Should Ganassi be able to come to terms with another Formula One transplant, Max Chilton, on his own rumored multi-year deal, each of the Big Three teams will have a driver under 30 on their roster in 2017.

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The lockdown of the No. 98 also means that Andretti Autosport has firmed up at least three cars for 2017. Ryan Hunter-Reay signed an extension in September keeping him with the team through 2020, while Marco Andretti – who was rumored to be moving over to Herta’s side of the program – landed a new co-primary sponsor to bolster his No. 27.

The No. 26, currently driven by Carlos Munoz, is the only car in doubt.

What do you think about the extension of the Andretti-Herta partnership?