Ed Carpenter Racing has hired a new driver for the car #21 in the NTT IndyCar Series 2020.
That will be 19 year-old Dutchman Rinus VeeKay, who finished second in the Indy Lights Championship in 2019. He was pushing Oliver Askew throughout the season, who has already landed at seat at Arrow McLaren SP.
VeeKay wasn’t born with that last name, but he got his real name changed, like so many others have done so the past, making it a bit easier to say. He was born Rinus van Kalmthout, by which he was known at the karting tracks in Europe for seven seasons. When he opted to go into single seater racing, he quickly found a path to the USA, running in the US F2000 Championship in 2017 (finishing second), Pro Mazda in 2018 (which he won) and Indy Lights in 2019 (finishing second).
Photo: Indycar.com / Doug Mathews
He has a lot of backing from his home nation, and there is usually big Jumbo stickers on the side of the car. Jumbo is previously known from Formula 1, but has more recently been seen in sportscar racing, where they are running a car with just their livery on it.
This means a goodbye for Spencer Pigot, who ran in #21 throughout the 2019 season. Car #20 was shared by Ed Jones and team owner Ed Carpenter, but it’s yet uncertain if Jones will return. Today’s announcement included that Carpenter will continue to drive #20 on the ovals only, while another driver will take care of the car, for the rest of the races, which isn’t really Carpenter’s speciality.
The NTT IndyCar Series 2020 starts on 15 March in St. Petersburg, Florida.
