IndyCar: Is Patricio O'Ward's 2019 season in jeopardy?

Harding Steinbrenner Racing are reportedly facing sponsorship issues that could prevent Patricio O’Ward from driving full-time for the team in the 2019 IndyCar season.

Shortly after the 2018 IndyCar season came to a close, Harding Racing and Steinbrenner Racing formed a partnership to become Harding Steinbrenner Racing for the 2019 season, and they announced that they would field two cars on a full-time basis.

The team announced that the top two finishers in the 2018 Indy Lights championship standings, champion Patricio O’Ward and second place Colton Herta, would drive for the team on a full-time basis in the 2019 season.

They announced that O’Ward would drive the #8 car while Herta would drive the #88 car, and they later announced that these two cars will be Honda-powered.

Both of these drivers made their IndyCar debuts in the 2018 season finale at Sonoma Raceway. O’Ward drove the #8 Chevrolet and finished in ninth place after starting in fifth while Herta drove the #88 Chevrolet and finished in 19th after starting in 20th.

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However, O’Ward’s ability to compete full-time in the 17-race season could be in jeopardy, according to Mexican news outlet Récord.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing will not be participating in today’s test session at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and they will only have one of their two cars for the four test sessions at Circuit of the Americas this coming Tuesday, February 12 and Wednesday, February 13. Herta is still set to drive full-time for the team in the 2019 season, but they are reportedly facing problems in terms of finding the necessary budget to field both cars throughout the entire season.

Is O’Ward’s 2019 season in jeopardy to any extent at this point?

Here is what Harding Steinbrenner Racing team president Brian Barnhart had to say about the matter, according to RACER.

"“We are sending one car [to the test at Circuit of the Americas], and it’s looking good; it’s on the ground now and we’re about to fire it up. The bad part is, unfortunately, there’s only one car ready at this point and we’ll share it with both drivers.“The struggles we’ve had has only allowed us to get one car ready at this point. The post-COTA schedule has us stopping at Sebring before St. Pete to do a shakedown with the second car, and the plan is then to roll into St. Pete with both cars and both drivers. The only thing I can speak to is our intentions, and our intent is to have both kids in the car at COTA.“Things haven’t developed as quickly and successfully as we’d hoped since the partnership was formed, and it’s not for a lack of trying. We have a lot of discussions and a lot of proposals out; it’s a slow-moving process, but we’re still full steam ahead.”"

O’Ward has a $1 million scholarship that guarantees that he will compete in at least three races throughout the season, including the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 in May, as a result of the fact that he won the 2018 Indy Lights championship.

That said, Harding Steinbrenner Racing are still searching for sponsorship to ensure that O’Ward can compete on a full-time basis like he was initially poised to. If they cannot secure that sponsorship, it is entirely possible that he could take that $1 million to another team and drive in at least three races for that team this season.

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Will Patricio O’Ward end up driving full-time for Harding Steinbrenner Racing in the 2019 IndyCar season like he has been expected to, or will he end up driving part-time or perhaps even not at all? The season is scheduled to get underway in just over four weeks, so expect this question to be answered in the very near future.

IndyCar: Is Patricio O’Ward’s 2019 season in jeopardy?

By Asher Fair | Feb 8, 2019

Harding Steinbrenner Racing are reportedly facing sponsorship issues that could prevent Patricio O’Ward from driving full-time for the team in the 2019 IndyCar season.