MOORESVILLE, N.C. – When Andretti Autosport rolls onto the starting grid to begin the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season, 50 percent of its four-driver lineup will be different from this year.
Devlin DeFrancesco will be one of the new drivers.
The Italian-Canadian driver takes over the No. 29 Honda that was previously raced by popular Canadian James Hinchcliffe during the 2021 season.
Another new driver for Andretti Autosport is former Formula One driver Romain Grosjean, who replaces former series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No. 28 DHL Honda.
Alexander Rossi, who last week was part of the winning Honda Ridgeline Racing team that won its class in the Baja 1000, becomes the elder statesman on the team based on tenure. He joined Andretti Autosport in 2016, the same year he stunned the IndyCar world and won the 100th Indianapolis 500.
The team’s second-most tenured driver is 21-year-old Colton Herta, who won three races this year, including the last two events of the season at Laguna Seca and Long Beach.
DeFrancesco and Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood were both in contention for a ride at Andretti and both could have joined the team at the same time if Andretti’s efforts to buy the Sauder Formula One team were completed. Andretti would have moved Herta to the F1 team and Kirkwood would have taken over the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. But when Sauber demand it regained control of the F1 team despite a $600 million purchase price, it was a dealbreaker for Andretti.
With Herta back in IndyCar, Kirkwood was allowed to become a free agent and has signed a full season deal in the No. 14 Chevrolet with AJ Foyt Racing.
DeFrancesco, who drove the 2021 Indy Lights Series season for Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport, moves up to IndyCar, despite the fact he did not win a race last season in Indy Lights.
Team owners Michael Andretti and George Michael Steinbrenner IV decided DeFranceso was ready to make the move to the top rung of IndyCar.
“This is something that started quite a few years ago, and with Dev driving for us first in Mazda and then in Lights,” Andretti said. “He finished second at the championship in Mazda and probably had a better shot at winning if we as a team maybe would have had more experience to help him out in that way, so he did really well there, and then had a pretty good year in Lights.
“The plan was always for him to get to IndyCar right about now, and it’s really great when it all comes together,” he addd. “I’m really excited.”
DeFrancesco and Kirkwood both went head-to-head against each other at an offseason test at Barber Motorsports Park. According to Andretti, DeFrancesco had a faster pace in the Indy car.
“It wasn’t something that we just came up with overnight,” Andretti said. “We’ve had this planned out a few years ago. It was more basically just following the plan.
“But I want to comment, as well, on Devlin at his test, I think he did very well,” he added. “I think an Indy car is really going to suit his style. He’s a very aggressive style, which I think in Indy Lights probably was not as good for his driving style, but I think IndyCar, you have to be very aggressive, and he is, and I think that’s why if you saw, he was actually quicker than Kyle Kirkwood in the last test on the same day. That says something because everybody rates Kyle highly.
“For him to go out and go quicker than Kyle I thought was really great there at a very tough track, too,” Andretti continued. “Barber is not an easy race track.”
“I’m very excited about this, and I think Dev is going to turn a lot of heads this year,” Andretti said.
There are some drivers who are better suited for the faster, more powerful Indy cars than they were in the less-powerful Indy Lights machines. DeFrancesco believers there is something about the extra horsepower of the Indy car that suits his driving style.
“Honestly, personally, I found the car suited me much more,” DeFranceso said. “I got to grips with it quite quickly. Definitely from midday onwards in Sebring I was already coming to grips with it and then Barber it didn’t take me that long to get up to speed. I really enjoy the car. I can’t wait to be in the thing again, and I’m really excited to get going for next year.
“After driving the Indy car for the first few days I was really impressed and I got to grips with it quite quickly, and just a huge rush of positive emotion right now,” DeFrancesco continued. “It really is a dream come true for myself.
“I’m just taking it honestly all in my stride and seeing where we stack up,” he added. I think the tests were very encouraging. I’m just excited to get out next year and see where we stack up, and I think there’s going to be quite a few races next year where we seem to turn some heads.”
DeFrancesco turns 22 on Jan. 17, 2022, and already has a firm understanding of the combination of aero, grip level and the effect of the Firestone tires in an Indy car.
“I think the Indy car, you’re able to combine a lot more with the Firestone tire,” he said. “I think that obviously plays to my strengths.
“There’s much more aero, as well, so able to carry a lot more momentum speed and be a lot more aggressive in the medium high-speed stuff, as well, which suits me quite more,” DeFrancesco added. “I’m excited to get going racing, try the Reds (softer compound for speed but less durability) out for the first time, seeing what those do in qualifying. There’s a lot of stuff that I’m looking forward to doing, and I think there’s definitely going to be some good results in the pipeline for 2022.
“At certain points, change in conditions, things that you can’t do in the Indy Lights car that you can do in the IndyCar,” he continued. “We’re doing our best to work around it and capitalize on a couple issues and just work through it. That’s all behind us now and looking forward to getting on with it next year.
“For me as a driver personally, I’ve always seemed to be very strong at the higher speed tracks with high-speed corners,” DeFrancesco said. “Ovals, as well, is something I’ve taken to quite quickly and seem to quite enjoy. Definitely the higher speed stuff I’m looking forward to getting at, especially the ovals, Barber, fast tracks like that, St. Pete, as well. I was quite quick there in Lights, so looking forward to getting back there for IndyCar.”
DeFrancesco developed his racing skills on the junior circuits in Europe beginning with the 2015 Ginetta Junior Championship Series. He moved up to MSA Formula, Toyota Racing Series, and Italian F4 Championship Series in 2016. The following year, he won the Spanish F3 Championship.
After a season in Euroformula Open, DeFrancesco competed in both the GP3 Series and the f3 European Championship in 2018. He stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 201 and the Asian F3 Championship in 2020.
“We watched Dev in Europe, he was running some Formula 3 and some junior series out there, and we put our eye on him and then we met him when he came over to the U.S.,” Steinbrenner said. “I think it was for the Indianapolis 500 when we first met. We got to talking, and we put an interest in Dev’s career, and come 2020 he decided that — he and his group decided that they wanted to try American open wheel racing.
“The plan was to go Indy Lights racing,” Steinbrenner added. “We thought that was the level that suited him most, running F3 before that, but didn’t have an Indy Lights season so ran Indy Pro, and then took that extra year to go Indy Lights racing after that. The plan was always sort of to take it one step at a time and get in an IndyCar, and we think this is the time. We think all pieces fit together now, and so we think now is the time to show the world what Dev has got.”
DeFrancesco is confident he is ready for IndyCar in 2022 but knows it’s going to be a tough battle.
“In the NTT IndyCar Series, there are 27 or 28 cars this year and the level is very, very high,” DeFrancesco said. “I think everybody is hard to beat. It’s one of the most competitive racing series in the world. I don’t think there is another racing series in the world that has the depth of talent like the NTT IndyCar Series has. I think every weekend it’s going to be a knife fight. It’s going to be very, very tough, and very tight.
“It’s my job to go out and do the best results possible for next year for the No. 29 Andretti Steinbrenner crew,” he concluded. “As it has been quite — as everybody has seen, the testing has been quite strong, both days in Sebring. I’m excited to go out and show the world what we’ve got for next year in 2022.”