Marcus Ericsson is carrying an edge with him into the 2026 IndyCar season.
That’s because the 35-year-old Swede is desperate to get back to his winning ways.
While it might feel like a century ago with Alex Palou’s dominance, one would only have to go back to the 2023 season to find Ericsson winning races, fighting for podiums and finishing sixth in the championship. Uniquely, Chip Ganassi Racing is the team that has propelled Palou, but also the one Ericsson’s last IndyCar win (St. Petersburg) was with.
Since moving to Andretti Global in 2024, it’s been a challenge for Ericsson, with just one runner-up result (Detroit, ‘24) and 10 top 10s over 34 races.
“Yeah, I definitely feel like I have a chip on my shoulder going into this season,” said Ericsson, who has four career wins, including the 2022 Indianapolis 500.
“I felt like the first year with Andretti was promising. We just didn’t manage to finish a lot of races. We sort of lost a lot of points. We still had good speed. It was a promising first year.”
That speed provided confidence going into last year, but seemingly every weekend something went wrong. The biggest gut-punch of all was losing the lead in the Indianapolis 500 with 13 laps to go – to Palou – and finishing second, only to have that result thrown out after a violation was found in post-race technical inspection.
“Really last year should have been a better year,” Ericsson said. “It was just going the other way. (It) was a really disappointing season.
“It’s been a lot of sort of looking at myself in the off-season trying to figure out how I can get back to the level I know I can be at. Been a lot of work put in from my side, but also the team’s side. They’ve worked really hard to try to get me more comfortable in the car, yeah, get the car more to my liking.”
Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global at Phoenix Raceway
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
There have been new additions over the offseason at Andretti Global, notably with Will Power leaving behind 17 years at Team Penske to replace Colton Herta. The team also added another key member from Penske in Ron Ruzewski, who takes over as team principal.
There was also a reshuffling of personnel for Ericsson, who has a new race engineer atop the timing stand in Ron Barhorst.
“Been a really promising start with him in Sebring and Phoenix,” said Ericsson, noting preseason testing.
“I felt like we made some big steps to get the car more in sort of the window I want the car to be in. That makes me very excited.”
With the competition extremely tight, Ericsson, who is entering his eighth season in IndyCar, is aiming to find that last little bit that can turn an average result into something that puts him back into the fight at the pointy end of the field.
“There’s a bunch of things, as always. IndyCar is still tight. That’s the thing; last year, it wasn’t that we were bad, we were just missing a little bit. IndyCar these days you miss a little bit, suddenly you’re P20. It’s not like you’re 10th or 12th. It’s such a competitive field, you can’t be a little bit off with the setup or your driving. If you are, you’re in the back.
“I think all those things made it tough last year. We’ve been working hard in the offseason to come back and be strong.”
And all of that work will get applied right out of the gate at the site of his last victory with this weekend’s season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“My mindset is that I want to be back in the front of the field fighting for podiums and wins on a regular basis, fighting up front in the championship,” Ericsson said.
“I know I can do that. I’ve shown that plenty of times in the past. That’s my big goal for the year.”
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– The Motorsport.com Team