Carlin enters IndyCar with two-car team for Kimball, Chilton

The team has raced in America since 2015 when it joined the Indy Lights championship, winning the title the following year with Ed Jones.

Carlin attempted to join IndyCar back for 2017 in a link-up with KVSH Racing, but the deal fell through when it failed to sign Mikhail Aleshin.

However, in September of this year, team boss Trevor Carlin stated that the "right moment" had arrived for his team to join IndyCar, with the series adopting spec Dallara aerokits.

He said: "We're delighted to finally be able to announce our entry into the IndyCar Series, the result of a long-term ambition of the team. To be joined on that journey in our debut season with drivers we already have a race-winning history with in Max and Charlie, is beyond what we could have expected.

"By no means do we underestimate the challenge and competition that lies ahead, but I have great faith in the young and passionate team that our team manager Colin [Hale] and I have put together."

Chilton was a race winner in Formula 3 and the then-GP2 Series with Carlin and followed up his Formula 1 stint with an Indy Lights season with Carlin in 2015.

He then moved to Ganassi in IndyCar but exited the team after two years, as team owner Chip Ganassi downsized his squad to two cars for 2018.

Chilton believes that Carlin's experience of racing in various spec series will help the team's transition to IndyCar.

"Carlin being the first British team to enter the IndyCar Series in the modern era is a result of a lot of hard work and ambition," Chilton said.

"IndyCar is exceptionally competitive, but the introduction of the new aero package will help level the playing field slightly. I know that finding the maximum in a spec series like this is where Carlin really excels."

Kimball, who has spent all seven years of his IndyCar career with Ganassi, last raced for Carlin when the team ran the Victory Engineering Team in World Series by Renault back in 2007.

"It seems like everything fell into place at the right time to have this opportunity to work with Trevor and the whole Carlin team again," said the 32-year-old, who scored his solitary IndyCar win at Mid-Ohio in 2013 and took his first pole at Texas this year.

"I've already got two years of experience working with Max as a teammate and I think our strengths and weaknesses will really complement each other as we begin this new adventure.

"IndyCar is not just gaining a new race team – which is, of course, exciting – but really gaining a capable and competitive group of people that make up this team."