PREMA Racing’s venture into the NTT IndyCar Series with a two-car Chevy-powered will come with some significant hurdles to clear, but the Italian team knows what it has signed up for in 2025.
With IndyCar expected to introduce a new charter system that would favor its 10 existing full-time teams, lock in 25 entries from those teams at the majority of — if not all — events, and potentially cap the starting grid at 27 cars (outside of the Indianapolis 500), PREMA is primed to represent the 28th and 29th entries next season and would need to displace two veteran cars in qualifying to stay on and take part in the races.
There’s a chance that IndyCar could rethink the 27-car cap before it finalizes the charter, and while PREMA is well aware of the challenges it could face as a non-charter team, the three-time Formula 2 champions remain undaunted by what lies ahead.
“Well, we’re aware of the situation and obviously had various conversations with IndyCar, but [the charter system] is not finalized yet,” PREMA Racing IndyCar CEO Piers Philips told RACER. “It’s something that has been in discussion right from the very start because [charters] have been whispering around for years now, hasn’t it? It is what it is from our side. But we’re not afraid of it.
“We’re not afraid of coming in and having to compete for our places on the on the grid. And there’s some amazing teams in this in this field. There’s some amazing challenges in terms of the racetracks. And from the PREMA side, it is my goal and my belief that we will be competitive, but what do you classify as being competitive in season one?”
After producing F2 championships for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, ex-Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher, and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, not to mention F3 titles for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and dozens of other championships across most major European training series, there’s a reason for PREMA to feel confident about its chances in IndyCar.
“We’ve got to have structured targets to get to,” Phillips said. “But the whole point of anything that PREMA has ever done is that it is successful, and it wins, and it wins championships. And that is the goal. We are not coming here, without naming any other teams, to make up numbers, scrape in the race in the back of the grid. Like I said, we’re aware of the charter system, and the discussions that are going on.”
Although this week’s announcement of PREMA’s IndyCar plans are new, the team’s interest in joining the series — which was revealed in January — extends back to 2023, and with Phillips chosen as the program leader, they’ve been busy working behind the scenes for a good while.
Piers Phillips, whose resume includes time at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, will head PREMA’s IndyCar program. Barry Cantrell/Motorsport Images
Its focus is on IndyCar, and IndyCar alone; it won’t be entering the Indy NXT series in the short term, and there has been plenty of interest shown by drivers who’ve asked for PREMA’s contact information since the project’s formation came to light. Among the free agents whose names have been mentioned as being on the team’s shopping list, Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi and former PREMA F2 driver and three-year IndyCar veteran Callum Ilott lead the conversation for the lead entry.
All of the other details, including how the team is being funded, when it will begin the move-in process in an Indiana-based shop, and more await answers as they become available.
“It’s a huge investment. It’s a huge challenge, both from a sporting perspective, but also as a business,” PREMA team manager Angelina Ertsou told RACER. “Internally, it’s not something we want to make public on how we plan to fund it. It’s a private matter, but I can guarantee you that if we’re here, it’s because we have the capability of doing it.”
The most precious asset in IndyCar is experienced talent to staff and run the cars, and on this end, Phillips says good progress has been made in recent months.
“From my side, it would be remiss to say that we haven’t already started down that process, and was significantly down the line with various critical components with cars and equipment,” he said. “We’re in that process right now and have been for some time. Regarding facilities, that will be in the Indianapolis area, and as we sit here, we haven’t got anything to announce or commit to, but hopefully it may change as early as this week. It’s all a work in progress.
“To the point about the staff, I’m not willing to divulge who they are at the moment, but the key spine of the team is already on board. And I am pretty thrilled at the level of experience, both in IndyCar and other forms of motorsport, to be able to work closely with the group in Italy, and obviously work closely with the people in the paddocks and the individuals that we know here in the U.S., and blend the team with the best of both sides.”
With his most recent IndyCar stops as a team leader coming at Arrow McLaren and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Phillips hopes to establish a winning mindset among the multi-national crew members.
“We’ve got a more progressive organization with a different way of working to be more consistently competitive within the series,” he said. “I think when you do that as an organization as well, blending from both sides, you end up with a much better balanced and invigorated situation. And I think it all comes down to leadership.
“Everyone talks about culture, but you generate your own culture and it starts at the top. It starts by empowering people. It starts by getting people to take ownership in the various areas. And not just being a small cog in a big team; you make everybody a critical, valued component of that organization. And that’s what I thoroughly intend to do.”
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