General Motors Co. and its motorsports entity – GM Racing – has committed to fielding a Chevrolet-branded Twin-Turbo V6 racing engine to compete against Honda in the IndyCar Series beginning with the 2012 season. The announcement will be made this Friday, November 12, at a venue yet to be determined. Chip Ganassi, after an intense flirtation with Ford where he considered joining their NASCAR program, is instead committing to a relationship with GM Racing and Chevrolet in NASCAR starting in 2011 and in IndyCar beginning in 2012. Ganassi had apparently been leaning toward going with Ford over the last several weeks but once Ganassi learned that GM was going “all-in” for a new IndyCar racing engine program, his decision to go with GM was a fait accompli. Two details that could not be confirmed at post time are whether or not Ganassi would have an exclusive with the new Chevrolet-branded Indy V6 for the first season (in part from Autoextremist.com)
AND “This is pure speculation,” IZOD IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard told SPEED.com. “We continue to be in talks with various manufacturers regarding involvement in our future engine and chassis program but we do not have any signed contracts other than Honda for 2012.”(SPEED)(11-8-2010)
UPDATE: On Friday 12th November, GM will announce its return to the IndyCar Series with the Chevrolet brand spearheading the challenge. This will be announced at a press conference in the Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The engine will be a pure race unit of 134 CID (2.2L) V6, with twin turbos, 4 cams, 4 valves per cylinder. GM will confirm that Ilmor Engineering will be their partner in this program which begins with the new car / engine rules package for 2012. Ilmor’s US engine shop is in Plymouth MI close to all the GM engineering facilities. Penske Racing will be one of the teams to commit to using Chevrolet engines for 2012. It was Penske who gave Chevrolet their last Indy 500 win in 2002 using an Ilmor built engine. Chevrolet and Honda will compete for teams in 2011 and then race each other on track in 2012.(11-12-2010)
UPDATE 2: Chevrolet will compete in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series with a new twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V-6 racing engine powered by renewable E85 ethanol fuel. The new purpose-built Chevy IndyCar engine will be developed jointly by General Motors and Ilmor Engineering. Team Penske is the first IndyCar team to commit to Chevrolet power in 2012. The Chevrolet IndyCar engine will be available to all entrants in accordance with the series’ regulations.(Team Chevy)(11-12-2010)
