During IndyCar content day that was attended by Pit Debrief and other media outlets, Ed Carpenter spoke about the decision to keep Christian Rasmussen over Rinus VeeKay.
The Dutch driver spent five years with Ed Carpenter racing from 2019 to 2024. In 2021, Veekay took his first win in the series at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. However, in 2024 his best finish was fifth as the team has gone backwards in recent times.
After a disappointing season for the team in 2024 and the introduction of the charter system in IndyCar, ECR was faced with a difficult decision on who to retain as their 2025 drivers.
Despite deciding to part ways with Veekay, Carpenter praised the Dutch driver.
“I have nothing but respect and appreciation for the years we had with Rinus. I still consider him a really good friend and a really talented driver that I hope will find a spot in the sport.”
Carpenter clarified, “He deserves to be here.”
Carpenter’s expectations of Rasmussen
Rasmussen took part in 15 of the 18 races for ECR in 2024. The introduction of the charter system meant ECR had to decide between the Dane and VeeKay with Rossi coming in.
In they end they decided on a balance between youth and experience with a line-up of Alexander Rossi and Christian Rasmussen.
Rasmussen had some good peaks in 2024 as the team struggled. Carpenter was clear he didn’t blame the young driver for a difficult season.
“We weren’t as good as we needed to be last year. I don’t think our problem was with our driver line-up necessarily. We weren’t good enough as a whole. But Christian continued to develop.”
Carpenter praised Rasmussen’s ability to deal with the pressure of a challenging year.
“I think I learned a lot about what he’s made of when we put him in a really tough position when I got out of the car at the end of last year and where we were in points with that, and how he dealt with the pressure of closing out and keeping us in the leader’s circle.“
Ed Carpenter set his expectations high for the former IndyNXT champion.
“I’m expecting a big year from him. I think he has a ton of talent and potential, and I think we’ll see that this year.”
