Beth Paretta and her female-forward IndyCar team lead by driver Simona de Silvestro will be coming back to IndyCar in a partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing. Rather than contesting the Indianapolis 500 as the team did in 2021, this year, Paretta Autosport will take on three road and street courses for a more comprehensive part-time entrance into the field.
The Paretta Autosport crew will take on mid-season events at Road America, Mid-Ohio, and Nashville, though there are reports that the team may have a fourth race in mind sometime later in the season.
Paretta Autosport is also taking a slightly different philosophy to car prep this year. Last year, the team hired what it called a “female-forward” crew, one composed predominately of women. It was an innovative idea that gave many women a chance to try their hand at motorsport for the first time. This year, however, members of that Paretta crew will be joining with the Ed Carpenter Racing crew to take a blended approach to race prep.
“I am thrilled to announce that we will be back competing in the NTT IndyCar Series in 2022,” Paretta said during a press announcement. “We had a great first year working with Roger Penske and Team Penske in 2021 as part of the Race for Equality and Change initiative and since then I have been working on building the right structure and opportunity to continue to grow our team. The training and support we received last year was invaluable and to be able to carry that forward and work with Ed Carpenter Racing is exciting for us.
“I am so proud to continue our association with Chevrolet who has valued, supported, and championed our efforts for diversity and inclusion from the very beginning. That alignment has helped us amplify our message in a meaningful way and we can’t wait to get back to racing with them. Finally, we are so happy to welcome KiwiCo to our team and the NTT IndyCar Series. This partnership will allow us to connect our effort on track to kids and parents at home, which is a critical ingredient of our mission.”
De Silvestro’s No. 16 Chevrolet will join the No. 20 driven by Conor Daly and the No. 21 driven by Rinus VeeKay.