Hinchcliffe eager to get back powering the wheel in sporting activities cars and trucks

James Hinchcliffe has shut the open-wheel racing chapter in his existence, while he’d welcome a get in touch with from Roger Penske asking him to take into consideration driving a fourth entry at upcoming year’s Indianapolis 500.

But until that comes about, the six-time IndyCar race winner, polesitter at the 2016 Indy 500 and 9-time participant in the Rolex 24 At Daytona would like to re-establish his title in athletics autos where the Canadian designed normal starts off from 2006 via 2017. From Grand-Am GTs to Daytona Prototypes to IMSA LMP2s and DPis, to extracurricular exciting in the Australian Supercars sequence and Mazda’s MX-5 Cup, Hinchcliffe desires to place his high-amount experience to use in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and has been working for quite a whilst to make it materialize.

“I’ve always experienced aspirations of pursuing sports vehicles publish-IndyCar,” Hinchcliffe explained to RACER. “When I begun searching at the finish of ‘21, we were being really much down the road with an IMSA workforce and placing a method together. And for various motives, that did not occur alongside one another,

“When that did not get the job done out to go straight from IndyCar to IMSA, it was kind of a bummer, but on the other hand, having a break for a 12 months almost certainly wasn’t the worst detail. That entire 12 months, we ended up already gearing back up to acquire an additional swing at it for 2022 and then, when all over again, genuinely late in the video game, it all fell apart.

“So I imagine my situation now is that I’ve scratched the itch a small little bit by getting in that MX-5 Cup motor vehicle and racing a little something yet again for the very first time in a although, and it is so much entertaining. So the wish to get involved in sports activities automobile racing is still really a great deal there. We’re just wanting for the appropriate opportunity.”

Hinchcliffe (pictured at still left, previously mentioned, with Christian Lundgaard) has been a warm commodity in broadcasting, with NBC Athletics generating use of his talents in IndyCar, NASCAR and IMSA, whilst Formulation 1 has also kept him chaotic serving as an analyst for its formal channel. Weaving sporting activities auto racing into his long term is of good relevance, and he’ll regulate his plan as needed if he can land a property in one particular of IMSA’s GT or prototype lessons.

“I’ve discovered a good deal about the sports activities auto landscape in the very last two several years while making an attempt to navigate my way as a result of it, and I consider that aged expressing that beggars can not be choosers arrives into the dialogue,” he reported of what he’s hunting for in the collection.

“You know, no driver would like to push any a lot less. But if it was chance for the endurance races, that would at minimum get me on the grid and get you in the doorway a minor little bit. The best factor I can do is discover my way on to the grid, show your worth, and see where by it requires you.”