Near the end of the 2021 IndyCar season, Jack Harvey announced that he would be leaving the team he had raced with since entering the series in order to help progress his career.
He gave notice to Meyer Shank Racing in July last year that he would be moving over to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for the 2022 season to drive the team’s third car.
Harvey hoped that the switch to a more established team, which has many wins under its belt across 30 years in the series, would give him his long-awaited first win as well as better results in general.
That plan has not worked out so far, however, and the 29-year-old has found himself further down the order than he has since running full time starting in 2020.
Harvey is usually very diplomatic when talking about his results, and often says that the time for his first win could be right around the corner. When talking with Motorsport Week recently, however, he was more blunt in his assessment of his time with his new team.
“Not very good,” said Harvey. “How could you rate it anything other than that? It hasn’t been great.
“Team performance in general has been a little down. When we have had some pace in the Indy GP, even in Toronto, we had some things go against us. Some of it was in our control, some wasn’t in our control.
“We have to do better at controlling those variables, and making the most of it when we’re in a position to have a good result. The first half of the season had some promise, had some bad bits. We just have to work on all that together.
“We want to do more. I came here for a specific set of reasons, and I want to do more.”
Harvey had often found himself fighting for top 10 places in Meyer Shank Racing, but some questionable strategy calls helped seal his decision to move on and try to find better results with a new team.
However, his best result so far since switching to RLL is 13th, and he finds himself 22nd in the points, only ahead of three other full time drivers. His two team-mates sit 13th and 16th in the championship, and have each logged multiple top 10 finishes.
A lot of factors are at play to ensure that a driver meshes well with a new team, and often time is what is needed to find a winning formula.
Harvey will continue to work with his new team to help realize the goals he set for himself as he tries to take his career to the next level.
