Rumors that Josh Pierson would combine his sports car endeavors with open wheel racing in North America started a few weeks ago and today those rumors have turned into facts. Signing a deal with championship-winning HMD Motorsports program with Dale Coyne Racing for a campaign in the 2023 Indy Lights Series, 16-year-old Pierson is set to begin his rise to the top of open-wheel racing in North America. North.
“I am delighted to start the next chapter of my motorsport career,” said Pierson, who turned 16 early in 2022. “Although I will continue with United Autosport in the WEC (World Endurance Championship) , I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join HMD Motorsports and continue my open-wheel racing career in North America.
At the wheel, since he was just two years old, Pierson already has a long list of accomplishments and the young driver’s resume grows even further today by becoming a driver for the mighty efforts of HMD Motorsports.
Pierson has been rewriting the history books for several years, reaping accolades and victories as he progresses towards a professional motorsport career. Josh started racing single-seaters just a few years ago at the age of thirteen. at fourteen and fifteen, he was the youngest driver on the Road to Indy’s Cooper Tires USF2000 championship grid. In early 2022, he becomes the youngest driver to participate in the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona. Just two months later, he claimed the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) youngest ever race title with victory at the 1000 Miles of Sebring. In June 2022, Josh became the youngest starter in Le Mans 24 Hours history and finished sixth in the LMP2 class and tenth overall.
Now, just one rung up the NTT INDYCAR Series ladder, Pierson is ready to tackle the highest level of junior open-wheel racing in North America as the youngest competitor.
Pierson added: “Age is just a number and on the track we are all runners and competitors. It won’t be easy, but I have my personal goals and the team has goals for me too. I’m ready to start later this week.
“Josh has a proven track record in all forms of motorsport,” explained Mike Maurini, Managing Director of HMD Motorsports. “For his young age he was hugely impressive through the sports car ranks and showed he has what it takes to be a champion in all disciplines. We welcome him to the HMD Motorsports family and we look forward to seeing it progress in the future.
Josh Pierson to make his 2023 Indy Lights testing debut on October 21st at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with HMD Motorsports.
These are now all 8 of the 8 Indy Lights for HMD drivers named. Pierson joins Rasmus Lindh, Kyffin Simpson, Danial Frost, Christian Bogle, Josh Green, Nolan Siegel and Christian Rasmussen with the team for 2023.
Number of cars
We know HMD has 8 cars, Andretti is expected to return with 4 and now JHR has 2. Legacy Autosport and Cape Motorsports will join the series as both will each have a pair of drivers themselves.
This already brings the number of cars to 18.
Then you can see a return of Force Indy and Abel Motorsports can stay as well. Whether it’s 1 or 2 cars for Abel remains to be seen but it’s at least 20 cars there. What about TJ’s speed? They had 2 cars in 2022?
