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IndyCar: René Binder to drive four races for Juncos Racing in 2018

By Asher Fair

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 28: Sebastian Saavedra, driver of the #17 AFS Chevrolet, leads Carlos Munoz of Columbia, driver of the #14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, during the 101st Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 28, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 28: Sebastian Saavedra, driver of the #17 AFS Chevrolet, leads Carlos Munoz of Columbia, driver of the #14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, during the 101st Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 28, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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René Binder is set to make his IndyCar debut with Juncos Racing in the 2018 season. He is slated to drive in four races for the team.

In the middle of October, Juncos Racing announced that they would be making the transition to IndyCar as a part-time team in the 2018 season. The team’s IndyCar experience prior to that announcement included only the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2017. The team fielded two cars in that race.

Along with this announcement came the announcement that 2017 Indy Lights champion Kyle Kaiser would be driving in four races for the team in the 2018.

We now know that Kaiser will be driving the #32 Chevrolet for the team in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Phoenix Grand Prix, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 this season.

We also now know that 26-year-old René Binder will also be making his IndyCar debut in the 2018 season with the team in the #32 Chevrolet. Binder is set to drive in four races for the team as well, with none of those four races being the races in which Kaiser is set to drive, hence why they are sharing the same car.

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Binder is actually set to make his IndyCar debut before Kaiser does despite the fact that Kaiser was the team’s first confirmed driver and he was confirmed as a driver over two and a half months before Binder was. Kaiser’s first race of the season is slated to be the Phoenix Grand Prix, which is the second race on the calendar. Binder, meanwhile, is set to start in the season opener.

Binder is set to make his IndyCar debut in the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The plan is for him to sit out the next two races, with Kaiser racing for Juncos Racing instead, before returning for the Grand Prix of Alabama. The next two races are the two Indianapolis races, which Binder will also sit out for in favor of Kaiser. Binder will then wrap up his first four career IndyCar races later in the season with the Honda Indy Toronto and the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Binder has driven professionally in various racing series around the world since 2009. Most recently, he competed in the World Series Formula V8 3.5 in 2017. He placed in 4th in the championship standings with four wins in 18 races. He also drove in two Formula 2 races in 2017 but finished no higher than 15th place in either of those races.

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How will René Binder perform in the first four IndyCar races of his career? He is set to make his debut on Sunday, March 11th with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg before driving in three of the next 12 races on the 2018 series schedule.