Formula 1 champion to return to NASCAR Cup Series thanks to this race team’s vision
Kimi Räikkönen is returning to the NASCAR Cup Series.
The 2007 Formula 1 champion will represent TrackHouse Racing at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, on March 26. Räikkönen will be running in the 91 Chevy Camaro ZL1.
This will be Räikkönen’s second Cup race. He debuted with TrackHouse Racing at Watkins Glen International last summer as part of the company’s launch of “Project91” — which is essentially an effort to bring in some of the biggest names in motorsports from around the world to specific Cup Series races, and to have them race for THR and be competitive.
The star from Finland will be a part of the second year of Project91 as well.
“I had a fantastic time in NASCAR,” Räikkönen said in a release on Wednesday. “There was a lot to learn in a very short amount of time, but everyone was very helpful, the competition was a big challenge. This time I get to race on a track I am familiar with so there won’t be as steep of a learning curve. I want to have fun, but also do as well as we can.”
Räikkönen raced admirably in his debut before wrecking out late and being unable to finish the race.
TrackHouse Racing owner and founder Justin Marks, one of the sport’s renowned innovators, created Project91 last year to expand his organization’s reach — but also to cash in on the “significant global interest” there is in NASCAR.
The Watkins Glen driver field in 2022, which included Räikkönen, featured a record seven nationalities: Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Finland, England and the United States. Marks said last year that Project91 will likely be employed on road courses at first — as that is the kind of course that the rest of the world has experience on.
“When we announced Kimi last year, I said he was the global superstar I had in mind when we created PROJECT91,” Marks said in a news release. “I think you saw the fan reception across the world and Kimi’s performance in the car was proof of the concept. Kimi’s following is massive and it’s great for NASCAR, Trackhouse plus I think Kimi really enjoys our racing.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 12:58 PM.
