INDYCAR: HVM Closing In On IndyCar Return

Marshall Pruett learns HVM Racing could be on the verge of filing an entry for the 2013 IndyCar season.

Marshall Pruett | Posted January 18, 2013

HVM's IndyCar program was in danger of going silent shortly after the 2012 season concluded, but could return in a much stronger position with the involvement of a new partner. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Veteran F3000, Formula One and Indy car team owner Keith Wiggins has had his fair share of struggles throughout the years.

At its peak in Champ Car, his HVM Racing outfit was a serious threat and winning races, but recently, the Englishman's team hasn't been as fortunate.

Despite the rough road he’s been on since joining the IndyCar Series, Wiggins, one of the sport’s great survivors, has always managed to recover from the various financial blows he’s been handed.

By that changed by the end of the 2012 IndyCar season. After being dealt nothing but jokers in his partnership with Lotus, Wiggins lost his driver, primary sponsor and some quality personnel as they departed for KV Racing. HVM had a different look—like the curtain was about to close for the last time.

All signs pointed to HVM closing up shop, but Wiggins soon found a new opportunity outside of open-wheel racing, striking a deal to partner with the Status GP FIA World Endurance Championship sports car team.

If IndyCar had an award for the "Most Irrepressible Team Owner," Keith Wiggins' trophy case would be filled by now. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

HVM would keep pressing ahead, but with the bitter taste of fighting with Lotus—and the IndyCar Series—fresh in his memory, Wiggins told me last November that he would need vastly improved circumstances to return to IndyCar.

His wish, as he told SPEED.com on Thursday, is close to being granted.

“I would say we are having discussions with a couple of different entities on projects in IndyCar,” said Wiggins. “I think it’s fair to say we’ll have an [IndyCar] entry and we are working with a couple of groups talking about doing IndyCar, and it could take a couple of different forms. We’re not sure what it will be yet.”

HVM has been linked with running a few different drivers I know of—two of whom are interested in an ownership stake—and another who could be farmed out to Wiggins’ team as part of a complex satellite program with a current IndyCar entrant.

Whatever form it takes, which could include HVM running the program under a different banner, Wiggins says he won’t go forward unless proper funding is in place for the team to be competitive.

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