Kyle Kirkwood endured a mixed season in IndyCar as he failed to win a race but was consistently in and around the top 10.
The American driver finished seventh in the championship standings after a season that saw strong pace and a podium on the streets of Toronto in IndyCar.
Kirkwood finished second in Canada on a superb day for the Andretti team, taking a one-two as Colton Herta took victory.
He didn’t win a race despite his good speed, which was a step backwards from 2023, where Kirkwood took victory at Long Beach and Nashville.
Despite his lack of race wins, the Andretti driver explained to the official IndyCar website he is pleased with the 2024 season despite his unspectacular results.
Kyle Kirkwood feels this season ‘has been better’ despite a lack of race wins
Kirkwood had good speed across road and street courses as well as ovals this year, finishing outside the top 15 just twice.
The 26-year-old was much more consistent this season compared to last year, finding much more balance over the campaign.
He improved a lot on ovals, particularly at the Indy 500 where he was very competitive and finished in seventh place at The Brickyard.
Kirkwood was particularly quick in the middle of the year, finishing in the top five in three consecutive races including a fourth place on the streets of Detroit.
The driver of the No. 27 car was pleased with his consistency over the year despite the lack of headlines and race wins.
He said: “I think this year has been better. We’ve been consistently at the front. We’ve been very competitive at every event that we’ve gone to. There’s never really been a point where I felt like we were on the back foot and can’t do well during a weekend. As a whole, we’ve been better.
“Of course, we didn’t have those two big wins. Obviously, there’s a lot of hype over those two wins, but as a whole, I’ll take the top-fives, top-10s and consistency that we had over the two wins again.
“A little bit to work on, but as a whole, we’ve made a huge progression year over year, and I’m extremely happy with the results that we’ve had this season.”
Andretti need to improve as a whole to challenge Chip Ganassi Racing
Andretti struggled at times over the season across the team’s three full-time cars as Chip Ganassi Racing set the pace.
The team suffered at the Indy 500 with Marcus Ericsson who had to qualify through Last Chance Qualifying after a crash in practice.
Herta performed superbly and finished second in the standings after winning at the season finale at the Nashville Superspeedway. Herta took a much-needed victory at Toronto, ending a significant drought.
He has begun to reduce his errors and he ended the season very well but lacked the raw speed to challenge the champion Alex Palou.