2021 AT&T Champ Car World Series season

2021 Indycar World Championship season

The **2021 AT&T Champ Car World Series season** was the 22nd season of the Indycar World Championship, the 109th season of American open wheel racing. The premier event of the season was the 108th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, won by Hazel Lacasse. It was the second year under the management of Horizon Corporation, who took over during the tumultuous 2019 season.

Second year driver Hazel Lacasse became the first driver from New Zealand to become Indycar World Champion, taking five race wins out of the 20 race season for Panasonic Team Impulse. Two time Indycar World Champion, Andrew Draco, finished 2nd in the standings, having also won five races during the season for Rockstar Phantom Motors. His teammate, David Wessel, finished third in the season. Rockstar Phantom Motors won the World Team's Championship for the first time, with Panasonic Team Impulse finishing second in team standings.

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## Background

The 2021 Champ Car season was the second feature to feature the IR-20 chassis built by Andromeda Automotive Initiative, and was replaced by the IR-22 built by AAI, set to feature revised ground effects and a new protective windscreen. It was also set to be the last season for Mercedes-Benz as a engine supplier. The German marque would continue to supply engines only for Indianapolis 500 entries, as it moved to supply engines to teams in the Microsoft IndyCar Series beginning in 2022.

## 2021 Teams and Drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in a minimum of 1 event during the 2021 Champ Car season.

### Driver Changes

* Panasonic Team Impulse reduced to two full time entries in 2021, putting Hazel Lacasse and Sakura Ishibashi in for the full season, while B.K. Glover competed for the team in the Firestone Triple Crown as well as the full Nissan Atlantic Championship campaign. Tyler Parker and Thomas Rogers were not retained for the 2021 season.
* Black Rose Racing replaced Jace Clarke with Brad Nerri for the 2021 season, pairing the Italian alongside team veteran, Nicole Liechti, who returned for a fifth season with the Cincinnati-based team.
* Cherokee GP retained the lineup it ended 2020 with, keeping Keisha Fox and Siri Lundqvist for 2021.
* Rockstar Phantom Motors retained their 2020 full time lineup of Andrew Draco and David Wessel, picking up Tyler Parker for the Firestone Triple Crown.
* Cat Devil Racing replaced Kaylee Zappa with Diego Jaramillo for the 2021 season, pairing the Spaniard with Kunimitsu Kinoshita and Camyron Jackson as the team's full time drivers.
* Swift Knight Autosport expanded to three full time cars for 2021, bringing a brand new lineup. Kaylee Zappa would join the team to drive the #9, while Matheus Michelin would return after a 1 year sabbatical to drive the team's #50 car. Ryan Stevens would contend the season as the series' only full time rookie in 2021, driving the #83 for the team.
* Isabel Espinoza left Escuderia Aguila at the end of the 2020 season, joining Obsidian Racing Team as they returned to Indycar World Championship competition for the first time in over 6 years.

### Mid-Season Changes

* Nicole Liechti missed the races at Texas Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway after being injured in a practice crash at Texas. Black Rose Racing team owner, Evangeline Porter, ran in her place for those races as well as the first week of practice for the 108th Indianapolis 500.
* Brad Nerri was dropped by Black Rose Racing following his failure to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. The team would promote stock car driver Alan Herrera to contest the rest of the season.
* Escuderia Aguila would withdraw from the series following their failure to qualify for the Pepsi 500 at Pocono Raceway. It marked Cristine Espinoza's first failure to qualify for an event in her career.
* Kaylee Zappa announced that she was pregnant, and subsequently missed the last three races of the season at the Indianapolis road course, Denver Motorsports Park, and Auto Club Speedway. Javier Silva replaced her for those races in his own car, while Irishman Gatlin Greene would drive her car for the finale in Fontana.
* Sakura Ishibashi was injured in a crash during the Firestone Grand Prix of Indianapolis, missing the last two races of the season. Artyom Kozlov became the first non-binary driver to compete in an Indycar World Championship event by replacing Ishibashi for the last two races of the season.
* Patrick Marcelli suddenly retired from racing following the last road course event of the year at Denver Motorsports Park. David Wessel was announced as his replacement on the same day.
* Rockstar Phantom Motors withdrew from the final race of the season upon the passing of the team's owner, Jean-Claude Gabriel, at the age of 47. The team was in the process of being sold to Velocity Autosport, which was finalized in December.

## Calendar

The 2021 Champ Car calendar was ratified by the North American Motor Racing Association (NAMRA), and FICA on December 1, 2020. The season would once again feature 20 races on the schedule, competing on superspeedways, intermediate ovals, short ovals, natural terrain road courses, and temporary street circuits across five countries and three continents.

### Schedule Changes

* Automotodrom Brno replaced the EuroSpeedway Lausitz as the second leg of the European tour, after being the third race of the season in 2020.
* The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was not scheduled for 2021 due to disputes between local organizers and Horizon Corporation. The event will become a Microsoft IndyCar Series event in 2022.
* The Coca-Cola 300 was moved from Homestead-Miami Speedway to Chicagoland Speedway following the 2020 event, which saw Jace Clarke, and Gerard Perth injured in a crash.
* The race at Texas Motor Speedway was moved from being right after the Indianapolis 500, to the early April slot vacated by St. Petersburg.
* A second race was scheduled in Canada at the Vancouver International Raceway. The short oval had previously hosted a race for the series back in 2018 and 2019.
* The event at Richmond International Raceway was moved to become the first race of the season on American soil to start the season.

### Mid-Season Changes

* The DHL Grand Prix of Valkenburg was cancelled after qualifying had been run due to torrential downpours and flooding at the venue. Stephanie Porter-Kelley was permitted to keep the point for pole position, but the race itself would not be rescheduled.
* Replacing the event in Valkenburg, Horizon Corporation announced on July 1st that it would be visiting the brand new Denver Motorsports Park for a road course race near the end of the season. The race was scheduled for November 7th, making it the last road course event of the season.

## Results

### Season Statistics

* 19 different drivers scored at least one podium finish during the 2021 season, with Hazel Lacasse finishing on the podium a total of 8 times, the most of all drivers during the season.
* 10 drivers won a race during the season. Hazel Lacasse and Andrew Draco both ended the season with five wins a piece.
* Artyom Kozlov became the first non-binary driver to compete in an Indycar World Championship event, score a podium, and win a World Championship event. They also became the first Atlantic Championship driver to graduate from the series and win a race.
* 19 countries were represented for at least one event during the season.

## Behind The Scenes Credits

* Liveries for the 2021 Champ Car season were created by CRC members RACECAR and BKGlover.
* The 2021 season used the IR18 mod created by NASCARfunfacts.com
* Track mods from Freddy and Sean Enterprises, NASCARfunfacts.com, Hillcrest Racing, BBMC, Action Packed Tracks, and other members of the NR2003 community were used for the 2021 season.
* CRC community members Sakura, Valkyr, BKGlover, Ruby, RACECAR, KuniKinoshita, amaterasu, AngelOfFire, AJHG, MikuPrincess80, LITTLEBLACKO932, Swiftsmith, goofytyler, Michelin, GTRacer22, Cuban, Weasel, and Zooparker took part in the 2021 season with drivers of their development.

## See Also

* CRC's YouTube Channel
* 2021 Nissan Atlantic Championship season, the developmental series in American open wheel racing.
* 2022 AT&T Champ Car World Series, the next season of Indycar World Championship competition.