This afternoon, the IZOD IndyCar Series received a major boost when American car manufacturer General Motors, announced that they are rejoin the series in 2012 under the Chevrolet banner.
Chevrolet left the series when it was still the Indy Racing League at the end of 2005, leaving Honda to be the sole engine supplier; however rumours began to spread on Monday evening that General Motors were interested once again.
In the press conference today, GM official Tom Stephens told the gathered media that:
“…re-entering Indy-style racing will help us take our advanced engine technology to the upper bounds of what’s possible. And it will also provide a dynamic training ground for engineers, who’ll transfer the technologies […] to the products we sell to our customers.”
The company intend to provide purpose-built Chevrolet twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 engines to be jointly developed with Ilmor Engineering. Chevrolet will also be committing an aero-package for the new rules once they have been finalised – it is highly suspected that both Dallara and Lotus will also provide aerodynamic packages for the 2012 season.
Chevrolet already has quite a history in the sport, having taken seven Indianapolis 500 victories, four of which were with Penske Racing.
Rumours have also been spreading about the possible entry of FIAT as an engine supplier to the IndyCar Series; however these rumours have been much more vague and without any basis in fact.
