IndyCar: More to come on new team targeting 2020 Indy 500

By Asher Fair | Feb 22, 2020

HOMESTEAD, FL - MARCH 02: Robbie Buhl drives the #24 G Force Infiniti on the track during the 20th Anniversary Grand Prix of Miami, IRL IndyCar race at Homestead Miami Speedway on March 2, 2002 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Brian Cleary/Getty Images) /

It was announced Friday that a new IndyCar team is aiming to compete in this year’s Indy 500 as well as the GMR Grand Prix. More should be known next week.

On Friday, it was announced that a new IndyCar team would be aiming to compete in the two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the upcoming 17-race 2020 season.

They are aiming to compete the GMR Grand Prix on the track’s 13-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) natural terrain road course on Saturday, May 9 and the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on the track’s four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) superspeedway oval just over two weeks later on Sunday, May 24.

This team, Citrone/Buhl Autosport, was created when former driver and two-time Indy Racing League race winner Robbie Buhl and his brother Tom formed a partnership with the father-son duo of Robert and Nick Citrone.

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The elder Citrone is the founder of the Discovery Capital Management hedge fund and the largest minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL team while his son is a data analytics coordinator for the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL team.

Other than that, not much else is known about the organization.

The partnership was officially formed last year to seek opportunities to compete in the Indy 500, so this has been in the works for quite some time despite the fact that it seems rather late in the game with the first of these two races being only two and a half months away.

Here is what a team statement about the matter had to say, according to Autosport.

"“The underlying goal of Citrone/Buhl Autosport is to be competitive while partnering with the right people to deliver results. The Citrones and Buhls see this as the start of a continued racing endeavour with aspiration of more entries at more races in the future.”"

They have not confirmed an engine manufacturer for their expected two-race effort, nor have they named a driver or drivers. They have also not confirmed a technical alliance of any kind, which will tie directly into the manufacturer decision. But at least one aspect of this uncertainty is expected to change next week.

Here is what Robbie Buhl had to say about the matter, according to RACER.

"“We’ll share more next week, and we’re not buying everything ourselves and doing it ourselves to start. It will be with a current team, and my partner and I are excited to get back to IndyCar where I see a lot of good things are happening. The timing is right.”"

As far as potential technical alliances are concerned, the Honda-powered Chip Ganassi Racing team have stated in the past that they would be open to the idea of forming one, provided that they can also benefit from it. Most of the other top-tier teams have already confirmed that their driver lineups are solidified.

Interestingly, team owner Chip Ganassi is a former minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates MLB team, so all three of Pittsburgh’s major professional sports teams would be accounted for in such an alliance. Chip Ganassi Racing are slated to run three cars on a full-time basis in 2020.

Honda-powered teams Dale Coyne Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing also tend to field three cars in the Indy 500, and neither team have confirmed more than their two full-time drivers for the 2020 season.

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What will be announced in the coming week about Citrone/Buhl Autosport’s plans for the 2020 IndyCar season? Will an engine manufacturer be confirmed for their expected two-race effort? Will a technical alliance be announced? How about a driver or drivers? Stay tuned.