Benjamin Pedersen is the primary driver to land a promotion from Indy Lights into IndyCar as AJ Foyt Racing confirmed Wednesday he’ll be a part of its 2023 lineup.

Pedersen, a 23-year-old twin citizen of Denmark and the US, spent final season working the complete Indy Lights schedule for HMD Motorsports. Linus Lundqvist, his teammate, gained the Lights title and Pedersen completed fifth within the closing standings. Pedersen earned his solely win earlier this month when he led each lap from the pole at Portland.

Pedersen additionally ran 4 races for HMD in 2021 with back-to-back runner-up finishes in his debut. Pedersen landed on AJ Foyt Racing crew president Larry Foyt’s radar by means of a “trusted colleague” and Pedersen spent most of final season shadowing the IndyCar crew.

His promotion to IndyCar comes forward of all 4 drivers who completed forward of him within the Indy Lights standings, together with champion Lundqvist.

“We’re actually trying ahead to having Benjamin as a part of the crew,” Larry Foyt mentioned. “His enthusiasm is infectious, and he’s 100% dedicated to IndyCar, AJ Foyt Racing, and doing the perfect he can to win races.

“It has been nice to have him embedded with the crew this previous season, and everybody is happy to hit the bottom working when testing begins. It’s also nice to have a multi-year program in place, which is able to assist him and the crew develop collectively.”

Foyt didn’t announce a automotive quantity for Pedersen. Kyle Kirkwood spent his rookie season driving AJ Foyt’s flagship No. 14 however Kirkwood is shifting to Andretti Autosport. The crew has not but introduced if Dalton Kellett will return for a fourth season, and a 3rd automotive for Tatiana Calderon was pulled from competitors after seven races due to sponsorship non-payment. Shutting down Calderon’s crew eliminated the one semi-regular feminine driver from the IndyCar discipline.

Pedersen, nevertheless, was signed to an settlement Foyt mentioned “spans a number of seasons because the crew plans to develop the younger rookie and is aligned to a longer-term plan for AJ Foyt Racing.”

Pedersen was born in Copenhagen however raised in Seattle and at the moment lives in Indianapolis. He mentioned his time shadowing the IndyCar crew has given him a bounce on his rookie preparations.

“I’ve spent quite a lot of time this season with AJ Foyt Racing studying the ins and outs of constructing the bounce to IndyCar and it has been very nice to do this at the side of my Indy Lights season,” Pedersen mentioned. “IndyCar has been my goal objective since I began open wheel racing in 2016. The racing, environment, followers, occasions, tracks, and many others. are all superior.”