Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz are both out at AJ Foyt Enterprises in the 2018 IndyCar season. Matheus Leist has the best chance to join the team.
With Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz both not returning to AJ Foyt Enterprises in the 2018 IndyCar season and only Tony Kanaan confirmed as one of the team’s two drivers next year in the #14 Chevrolet, one seat is still open with the team, and that is the seat of the #4 Chevrolet.
According to multiple sources, that seat will likely end up being occupied by 19-year-old Brazilian Matheus Leist next year, which would give AJ Foyt Enterprises an all-Brazilian lineup to go along with the all-American lineup of Andretti Autosport, the all-Canadian lineup of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and what may become the all-American lineup of Ed Carpenter Racing.
Leist, the 2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship champion, drove in Indy Lights for Carlin Motorsport this past season for the first time and had a pretty successful season. While he had a rough start to the year with a DNF and an 11th place finish at St. Petersburg, he was able to rebound rather well.
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Leist ended up winning his first career Indy Lights race in the 2017 Freedom 100, which started a span of four races during which he won at every track. After winning at Indianapolis, he won one of the two races at Road America for his first career road course win before going on to win at Iowa as well.
Leist ended up finishing the 16-race, 10-track season in 4th place in the drivers standings with three victories, one other podium finish and five other finishes in the top 5. He only finished outside of the top 10 twice after his rough two-race start to the season.
Here is what Leist had to say to RACER last month about making the move to IndyCar in the 2018 season.
"“It is my goal to make it to IndyCar next year. We have been talking to teams and working on this a lot. There’s a lot of time before next season, but we want to see what we can do [sooner than later].”“I want to stay here and continue with my career. I like the circuits very much and going to IndyCar was the reason we came to Indy Lights. If I can’t make IndyCar [next year], another season in Indy Lights is where we would focus again.”"
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Will Matheus Leist end up being the driver of the #4 AJ Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet next season as Tony Kanaan’s teammate, or will something unexpected happen that causes him to have to wait at least another year to have a full-time ride in IndyCar? We should know for sure within the next few weeks.