Questions continue to surround the future of last year’s Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.
The Swede joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020 and has been on an impressive upward trajectory since his first appearance with them at Texas that year.
Alongside his win at Indianapolis in 2022 with CGR, he led the championship for quite some time last year before ending the season in P6.
Ericsson kicked things off this year with a win at St. Pete, and he backed that up with a podium at Long Beach. He is currently 3rd in the standings — 19 points off championship leader and teammate Alex Palou — after finishing every single race inside the top 10 so far in the current season.
Throughout his career, Ericsson has been paying for seats in GP2, Formula 1 and now IndyCar. The Swedish star wants that to change in the future. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of interest in the 32-year-old in the IndyCar paddock after his performances over the last year and a bit.
Speaking at a press conference today that included Pit Debrief, Ericsson and his boss Chip Ganassi discussed the contractual situation.
Ganassi explained that he wants Ericsson to remain at the team for 2024 and beyond as he believes the man from Kumla has a massive future in the series.
“Yeah, I want him to stay. Yeah, I’m working hard to do it,” he stated.
“Marcus has a big future in the sport, and I want it to be on this team, sure.”
On what needs to occur for the partnership to continue beyond 2023, Ganassi stated:
“The same thing it takes for everything to happen. I’m not a big guy to be talking about our deals or our contracts or anything.”
Eventually the repeated questions about the future of Ericsson got to Ganassi, and he asked for no more as he wanted to talk about Fast Friday and qualifying this weekend only.
“Here’s what we’re doing today: We’re focusing on today right now. Okay? I’m not here to talk about my drivers and their contracts. I’m here to talk about Fast Friday and qualifying on Saturday and Sunday,” he said.
But he once again stated his intention to try and keep the Swede next year.
“Marcus is a valued — all the drivers are valued pieces of the team, and I want them all here today, I want them here tomorrow, I want them here next week, I want them here next year.”
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
