IndyCar Series

Rossi replaces Rahal for Team Penske endurance races

Published Dec. 7, 2018 2:29 p.m. ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Alexander Rossi has replaced fellow IndyCar driver Graham Rahal at Acura Team Penske for the IMSA sports car endurance events.

Rossi will share the No. 7 Acura ARX-05 DPi with fulltime Penske drivers Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.

Rahal had been the co-driver for those events last season but said on social media Friday he's too big to properly fit in the car. Rahal is listed at 6-foot-2 and posted a post-workout photo last month acknowledging he's the tallest active driver in IndyCar and was "determined not to be the fattest too."

Rossi is a former Indianapolis 500 winner who has slowly been expanding his schedule beyond IndyCar. The American won karting championships and the Formula BMW World title as a teenager, pursued Formula One in Europe, and migrated to IndyCar in 2016.

Simon Pagenaud returns to the Penske sports car program for a second season as the additional driver in the endurance races alongside regulars Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron.

Get more from IndyCar Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

IndyCar Series