MONTEREY, California – Marcus Armstrong drove five fewer races than fellow rookie Agustin Canapino and still was able to win the 2023 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year Award convincingly.
The 23-year-old racer from Christchurch, New Zealand, is the latest from his home country to enjoy success in the IndyCar Series. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished eighth in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey and gave team owner Chip Ganassi a rare triple crown” at the end of the season.
Ganassi’s drivers won the 2023 IndyCar Series championship with Alex Palou, the season’s final race with Scott Dixon and clinched Rookie of the Year with Armstrong.
What a team!!! @CGRTeams wins:
— Chip Ganassi (@GanassiChip) September 10, 2023
1) the 2023 @indycar Champion @AlexPalou
2) @scottdixon9 wins @WeatherTechRcwy
3) @MarcusArmstrng wins Rookie of the Year
I'm proud to call you and everyone @CGRTeams all teammates! #ilikewinners
“It’s awesome,” Armstrong told NBC Sports after the race. “The team has been amazing all year. They have won everything. I’m so proud to be a part of the team. I would have liked to have finished on the podium today, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“Maybe next year.”
When Armstrong climbed out of his No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on pit lane, he was asked by NBC Sports how it sounds to be called 2023 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year?”
“That sounds pretty darn good,” Armstrong told NBC Sports. “Man, what a treacherous race. It was mental from start to finish.
“I thought the race was done after the first corner, and then we were leading on our strategy.
“Man, I would like to do some of it again, but rookie of the year, I’m pretty damn happy about it.”
By focusing on the street and road course races in 2023, Armstrong was at a disadvantage to Canapino, who drove all 17 races for Juncos-Hollinger Racing.
He finished the season with five top-10 finishes, including a best finish of seventh in the Honda Indy Toronto in July.
His eighth-place finish in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey was his third eighth-place finish of the season.
“It’s pretty cool,” Armstrong said. “Next year, we’ll get to test out those ovals.
“It’s an awesome achievement. I’ve had an amazing car from start to finish. They did the work for me, and I’ve been learning every day.”
Armstrong was part of a wild race that featured eight cautions for 35 of the 95 laps on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
He was involved in a few of those cautions himself.
“It was more than mayhem,” Armstrong said. “It was so slippery offline, but we were fast, though. I wish we could do it again. It was so much fun.
“Damn, we should have gotten a better result, honestly.”
Armstrong came to the United States as a GP2 driver and was able to slowly adapt to the new world of IndyCar and to living in the United States.
“It’s quite different to racing in Europe,” Armstrong said. “There is certainly a family culture that is embedded inside the team, which is not common in high-performing racing teams. There’s always a mix between professionalism and a social environment within this team, which I think I like a lot more than what I’ve experienced previously.
“I feel like they have brought me into their family and really taught me everything. Everyone’s been open. I’ve asked Scott a million and one questions, so I’m very annoying. Everyone else, as well. They’ve all answered truthfully, as far as I know. It’s been great.”
Armstrong’s favorite circuit was the bumpy street course in Detroit in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in June. He liked the chaos and compared it to Sunday’s race at Monterey.
He's just getting started.@MarcusArmstrng is the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year!#INDYCAR // @CGRTeams pic.twitter.com/X0AJm7ulY3
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 10, 2023
His toughest race of the year came on the streets of Toronto, which ironically netted him his best result.
“Weirdly enough, I didn’t really feel at home at that track,” he said. “Learning it was quite difficult, probably the most difficult circuit this season. With the tarmac changes, bumps, it was like driving around a carpark at one point. That was difficult. As I said, we had our best result there, so maybe I’m at my best when I’m uncomfortable.”
He also discovered the differences between GP2, or Formula 2 as it is known, and the Honda IndyCar at Chip Ganassi Racing.
“Well, F2 is obviously a high-downforce car, high-horsepower,” Armstrong explained. “I’m used to sort of having that downforce at high-speed corners. I guess when you compare to others who come from maybe Indy Lights or something, they may not be used to that amount of load. Certainly, in F2 I get that. The tire in F2 is quite difficult to master. I feel like a lot of our work is put into understanding tires over there, which can work as an advantage over here, seeing that the Firestone is becoming more heat sensitive and degradation sensitive.
“I think that’s an advantage, just knowing I’ve driven a tire that is extremely difficult to maximize, and I can bring that over here to a certain extent.
“But I feel well-prepared really. I feel like it was a good learning class for an IndyCar season. There are obviously nuances to IndyCar, like this car is very intense, the steering kickback is a lot, for whatever reason. The racing is pretty ruthless. There’s still some learning to be done.”
Earlier this week, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that it had extended Armstrong’s contract for multiple seasons, giving the team another four-car, four-driver lineup that features six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, two-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou, rookie driver and 2022 Indy NXT champion Linus Lundqvist and Armstrong.
“I’m super proud and can’t wait to be here for a number of years,” Armstrong said of CGR. “It’s the best team.
“I’m looking forward to learning from my mistakes this year and turning them into results.”