De Vries and Vandoorne go to America: both test in IndyCars
F1 News
- GPblog.com
For Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne, a seat in Formula 1 seems further away than ever. De Vries seemed to be in line for the second seat at Alfa Romeo, but it eventually went to the Chinese Zhou. With Mercedes' last year in Formula E coming up, the Dutchman and Belgian of this team are logically looking ahead to the future.
America an option
Possibly IndyCar will offer a solution for De Vries and Vandoorne. Both drivers will test a car from the American class on December 6 at the Sebreng circuit. World Formula E champion De Vries drives for the Indy 500-winning team Meyer Shank Racing-Honda, while Vandoorne tests an Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet.
By Motorsport.com Mike Shank - founder and co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing - is particularly complimentary of De Vries: “We’re always looking to the future, no matter what our current driver situation is. We keep an eye on who’s out there, who’s performing well and thinking about what are needs are going to be. We’re continually building and evolving our team and from my perspective at least, Nyck is a guy that is really a stand-out, a rockstar. Formula 2 champion, Formula E champion…"
Relationships to each other
Shank continues: “Is it a potential move for us? I don’t know, but I’m going to make sure that as we move forward we’re covering ourselves. He could be in a sportscar, he could be in an IndyCar – we just want to see what he’s about, and so we’ve had this test scheduled for a while. It’ll be interesting to see how he compares with Vandoorne as they’re teammates for Mercedes in Formula E, but we know they’re both very good drivers."