IndyCar: Will Ed Carpenter’s partnership with Scuderia Corsa continue?

By Asher Fair | Nov 21, 2019

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 20: Ed Jones #20 of United Arab Emirates and Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet practices for the NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on September 20, 2019 in Monterey, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images) /

Ed Carpenter Racing formed a partnership with Scuderia Corsa for the 2019 IndyCar season. Will that partnership continue in the 2020 season?

Ed Carpenter Racing formed a partnership with sports car team Scuderia Corsa ahead of the 2019 IndyCar season to field an entry for Ed Jones in the 12 road course races on the 17-race schedule as well as an additional entry, a third entry for the team, in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Scuderia Corsa made it clear that they wanted to commit to IndyCar on more than just a one-off basis in the 2019 season after making their debut in the 2018 Indy 500 via a partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

They fielded the #64 Honda for Oriol Servia, who led 16 of the race’s 200 laps around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana and was only a few laps away from winning the race before settling for 17th place following a late pit stop for fuel.

Jones completed the 2019 season with a top finish of sixth place in the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his lone top 10 finish of the year.

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His average finish behind the wheel of the #20 Chevrolet in the 12 road and street course races was 16.17, and he finished in 13th in the Indy 500 behind the wheel of the #63 Chevrolet after tying his career-high IndyCar qualifying effort with a fourth place starting position.

The 24-year-old Emirati-born British driver is not expected to return to the team in the 2020 season, and team owner Ed Carpenter has stated that the team’s road and street course driver has already been decided for next year despite the fact that the team have not publicly confirmed the news as they finalize the details of the deal.

But as far as their partnership with Scuderia Corsa is concerned and whether or not that will continue to play a part in the fielding of the #20 Chevrolet in the 2020 season’s 12 road and street course races and perhaps a third car in the Indy 500 as well, nothing has been confirmed.

Will these two organizations remain aligned in 2020?

Here is what Carpenter had to say about the matter, according to Motorsport.

"“We haven’t completed that deal yet, but that was mainly because I’ve been focused on trying to get some other pieces in place so we can figure out how it will work. I think both ourselves and Scuderia Corsa have the intention of moving forward together.”"

Indeed, Carpenter has hat a lot on his plate recently. He had been the only driver under contract with his team for the 2020 season, which is set to be his ninth consecutive season driving the #20 Chevrolet and his seventh consecutive season doing so in just the oval races, for several months until recently.

Spencer Pigot, who drove the #21 Chevrolet for the team on a full-time basis in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, has confirmed that he will not return in the 2020 season, and Rinus VeeKay has been confirmed as his replacement.

Carpenter has also had to shoot down rumors that he would be retiring ahead of the 2020 season and that current but soon to be former Renault Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg would be his counterpart behind the wheel of the #20 Chevrolet in the road and street course races next year.

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Will the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet be fielded in the 12 road and street course races via a partnership with Scuderia Corsa once again in the 2020 IndyCar season, and will this partnership allow them to field a third car in the Indianapolis 500 again as well? It certainly seems like that is the direction in which both parties are heading.