Armstrong RY adds to Kiwi IndyCar scoop 

Marcus Armstrong claimed IndyCars rookie of the year award for Chip Ganassi Racing at Laguna Seca, the second Kiwi in three years to take RY honours in the North American Series.

Add to the fact that he achieved it on a part-time contract for CGR, his results are (in a way) comparable to Scott McLaughlin in his 2021 Rookie of the Year, with five top-ten finishes in four less races.

Without dousing the achievement, the only difference was that McLaughlin did it against the likes of Romain Grosjean and Jimmy Johnson, took a podium in Texas, and finished 14th at season’s end.

Armstrong’s sensational effort has of course earned him a full-time seat in 2024 in a sensational team that finished the year in a championship one-two, and he’s replacing an Indy 500 winner in Marcus Ericsson who’s jumped ship to Andretti.

The young Kiwi congradulates his teammate Alex Palou on his 2023 championship

He ended up in 20th for the year, 34 points clear of Argentinian Agustin Canapino with five less races, and well clear of Sting Ray Robb and Benjamin Pederson – all of which also did full seasons.

“I’m happy about it, the team gave me the best opportunity to do it and I just drove as fast as I could. And that was the result, ultimately,” the former F2 race winner said.

“At the beginning of the year, my target was to be on the podium and win races, it wasn’t necessarily the rookie championship, but that’s just a great bonus.

“Obviously, we didn’t do five races, so it was going to be a tough task. Nevertheless I think we finished every race, we were consistent, we had some good results.

“Sometimes I think we could have done a lot better…we were consistent and fast enough to win it without the ovals.”

Armstrong chases Romain Grosjean down the corkscrew at Laguna Seca. Image: LAT

In a crazy race at the newly paved Laguna Seca, Armstrong added another top-ten to his year (P8) despite spinning out from contact several times in a race plagued by incident packed restarts.

He now heads straight for a CGR testing regime to get him accustomed to oval racing, heading to the Texas Texas Motor Speedway tomorrow in Fort Worth, where he’ll get his first taste of an oval at the high banked and super fast 2.4km track.

His next race will then be at the pre-season $1,000,000 dollar race at the Thermal Club where he did his first major test sessions for CGR in an all-field testing weekend prior to the 2023 season.

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