WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Two of the IndyCar series’ smaller teams are planning to merge in 2015.
Ed Carpenter Racing and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing said Saturday they will unite to form CFH Racing. The teams that typically each just have one entry per race will form a multi-car organization.
A joint statement said that details about personnel, suppliers and sponsors would be announced soon. The Indianapolis-based teams will be headquartered at Fisher Hartman offices a few blocks from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Carpenter’s team has victories this season with driver Mike Conway at Long Beach and Toronto, and owner-driver Carpenter at Texas Motor Speedway.
Fisher Hartman driver Josef Newgarden is 16th in the driver standings going into Sunday’s race at the Milwaukee Mile.
Conway is 22nd, while Carpenter is 23rd among drivers. Carpenter has started at the pole in the last two Indianapolis 500s.
Carpenter also raced for then-Sarah Fisher Racing in 2011, finishing first at Kentucky, before starting his own team the following year.
“There will be a lot of work to do this offseason to bring the two teams together to form one new team, but we feel that it is a great opportunity for all of us to grow and reach new heights of success,” Carpenter said.
Fisher became the first female IndyCar team owner in 2008. A former driver, Fisher is the first woman to win a pole and place second in an IndyCar race.
She called the merger a “big-picture plan,” with Carpenter’s 2011 win representing a foothold.
Wink Hartman, who runs an oil company based in Wichita, Kansas, became a co-owner in Fisher’s team in December 2011.
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