There has been a lot of speculation that Helio Castroneves will leave IndyCar next season to drive for Roger Penske’s IMSA program. This video will add to that speculation.
Team Penske team owner Roger Penske, who won his third IndyCar championship in four years over the weekend with Josef Newgarden, recently announced that the he would be starting a two-car Acura ARX-05 DPi program in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship starting in January of 2018 with the 24 Hours of Daytona race.
Ever since that announcement, there has been speculation that three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, 42, the 20-year IndyCar veteran who has driven for Team Penske in since the 2000 season, may move to that series next season as opposed to staying in IndyCar for his 21st full-time season.
Roger Penske already announced that Juan Pablo Montoya, who drove in IndyCar full-time for Team Penske from the 2014 to 2016 season and won the 2015 Indianapolis 500 for the team, and Dane Cameron will drive one of the two Acura ARX-05 DPi cars in the new program next season, leaving one car open for two more drivers.
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Given that Penske could downsize his full-time IndyCar team from a four-car to a three-car operation next season, could Helio Castroneves be one of those two new WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers in 2018?
Just days after the 2017 IndyCar championship was decided and Castroneves finished in 4th place after having a slight chance to win the title heading into the season finale at Sonoma, this speculation heated up. It heated up because he may very well have been spotted testing a new Team Penske Acura ARX-05 DPi at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida.
Here is a video of the test that has heated up this speculation. Pause the video below at about 10 seconds in and take a look at the helmet of the driver in the car.
Now take a look at Helio Castroneves’ helmet (helmet only pictures on Google Images).
Is it simply a coincidence that the driver of the Acura ARX-05 DPi is wearing a similar if not the same helmet that Helio Castroneves wears, or is the driver of the Acura ARX-05 DPi really Castroneves himself?
If the driver testing that car was really Helio Castroneves, do you think it is a sign of things to come? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it. Also be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.