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JR Hildebrand will race in more than just the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 2017 when he contests all of the oval IndyCar races for AJ Foyt Racing.
The Race IndyCar Podcast host Hildebrand competed full-time for Panther Racing in 2011-2012, then switched to a partial schedule with a variety of teams since, with the exception of 2017 where he raced full-time for Ed Carpenter Racing.
He scored two podiums in that season at ECR, finishing 15th despite missing a race with a broken hand after a crash at Long Beach.
He ended a three-year spell of contesting the Indy 500 with Dreyer & Reinbold to race for Foyt in 2021, running a special AJ Foyt tribute livery.
Despite having Sebastien Bourdais as a team-mate, Hildebrand led the team in terms of helping with set-up development and with his qualifying and 15th place finish. He has finished in the top 15 in seven of the 11 Indy 500s he’s contested.
Asked by The Race what made this the right time to have an expanded programme, Hildebrand said: “Part of that certainly is just down to the opportunity to do it, but my being particularly interested in it this time around is that I’ve spent some time working on a few things away from the car that I’m interested to employ.
“The last time I was full time, with ECR in 2017, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth by the end of it all, not just because of the normal stuff like struggling with set-ups and not qualifying or finishing races where you want, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t finding much joy in it even when things were occasionally going objectively very well.
“And I’ve since realised that that’s not anyone else’s problem but my own, and there’s a lot more to it than that.
“So I’m coming into this year with more intention to enjoy doing what I do, even if it’s a f**king grind, and get with the programme.
“That’s served me well recently, even in my 500 one-offs.”
Hildebrand will drive at Texas, Indy, Iowa and Gateway for the team as Tatiana Calderon has already been confirmed as racing the road and street courses in the number 11 car, and she’ll miss the ovals until she evaluates whether to race them in the future.
One of Hildebrand’s 2017 podiums came at Iowa – the other was at another short oval, Phoenix – which means even if his reputation might be more for strong runs at the Indy 500, he’s anticipating those short tracks.
“I’ve definitely driven and helped develop, and made good on some good cars on short ovals over the years, so that gives me confidence that we can hit the ground running,” he told The Race.
“They are definitely the type of places that if you can operate where you want to on the track relative to other cars and you feel like the car is underneath you, you can race your way to the front.
“So that’s going to be the aim… but if the team is reading this, I wouldn’t hate a test day! Either way, it should be an exciting year.
“I guess I think that all the IndyCar ovals are pretty difficult now, which places a lot of value on just getting the cars handling well and working in rhythm with the driver, which gives anyone a puncher’s chance at getting things pointed in the right direction and having success.
“That was our strength last year at Indy, even if it’s also a place that’s development-heavy. I knew what I was looking for, we found it, we were able to validate it with the other guys, we iterated and made it better, and it clicked.
“At the other ovals we get less time to figure things out but the process is the same. So I’m optimistic that we can make some headway as a group, for sure.”
Foyt certainly suffered some bad luck on the ovals last season, especially with Bourdais where he was taken out of both Texas races costing huge amounts to repair, he followed that up with a fifth at Gateway showing the team’s short track potential.
Hildebrand’s engineer at Foyt last year, Mike Colliver, looks set to be persuaded to switch to a full schedule to work with Bourdais’ replacement Kyle Kirkwood in the #14 car for the team this year. Hildebrand will have Daniele Cucchiaroni as his race engineer in 2022, while Calderon will work with Mike Pawlowski.
Bourdais’ 2021 engineer Justin Taylor isn’t believed to be returning to the team.
