Kyle MacLean Kirkwood (born October 19, 1998) is an American

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver. He is the currently set to drive the No. 27 for

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...

in the 2023 NTT

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

Series. He formerly drove the AJ Foyt Racing No. 14 entry during the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series.

Career

Karting

Born in

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

, Kirkwood began karting at a young age, often competing alongside fellow Jupiter native

Oliver Askew Oliver Clark Askew (born December 12, 1996) is an American-Swedish race car driver who races under the American flag. He previously competed in the Formula E World Championship for Avalanche Andretti Formula E. He is the 2019 Indy Lights champ ...

. Throughout his karting career, he amassed multiple titles, including the AM Engines Formula Tag Junior championship in 2012, the SKUSA SuperNationals XVII - S5 Junior championship in 2013 and back-to-back wins at the Florida Winter Tour in 2015 and 2016.

Lower formula

In 2015, Kirkwood made his single-seater debut in the F1600 Championship with Chastain Motorsports. There he took victory in the season opener at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

and contested a further six rounds to finish sixteenth. Following his performance in Formula 4 United States, Kirkwood returned to the Formula Ford scene in 2016 to represent Team USA in the Formula Ford Festival and

Walter Hayes Trophy The Walter Hayes Trophy is a non-championship Formula Ford race. Sanctioned by the Historic Sports Car Club and created by James Beckett the race has grown into the most prestigious Formula Ford race worldwide. The race is held annually in Novembe ...

event, finishing seventh and fourth overall in both respective events. In 2016, Kirkwood joined the inaugural Formula 4 United States Championship with Primus Racing, which saw him claim a win at

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regio ...

and finish third in the standings overall. In September 2016, Kirkwood was awarded with the Team USA scholarship. After competing with them in pre-season testing at

NOLA Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship. ...

, Kirkwood returned to the championship the following year, switching to newcomers Cape Motorsports. He achieved nine victories, including back-to-back hat-tricks at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and Motorsport Park, wrapping up the title in the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

supporting season finale at the

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand ...

. During the season, Kirkwood was once again selected as a candidate for the Team USA scholarship.

International Formula 3

In August 2018, Kirkwood joined Abel Motorsports to contest the inaugural season of F3 Americas. The season saw Kirkwood claim fifteen of the seventeen race victories on offer and seal his third consecutive championship at NOLA with a round to spare. The following year, Kirkwood made a one-off appearance with

RP Motorsport RP Motorsport was an auto racing team based in Italy in Piacenza. The Italian team won many times the EuroFormula Open Championship, becoming one of the most successful outfit in the series. In February 2022 the team assets were sold to Irish ra ...

in the season finale of the

Euroformula Open Championship The Euroformula Open Championship (formerly the Spanish Formula Three Championship, European F3 Open Championship) is a junior formula racing series based in Spain. It was one of six national and international Formula Three championships in Europe ...

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

, which saw him take a best-placed finish of sixth in race two.

Formula E

In February 2020, Kirkwood was announced to be partaking in the rookie test at Marrakesh with BMW i Andretti Motorsport.

Road to Indy

In December 2016, Kirkwood partook in the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout, but lost out on the scholarship to Askew.

USF2000

In 2017, Kirkwood partook in the

Chris Griffis Memorial Test The Chris Griffis Memorial Test is a two-day test event for Road to Indy racing series. The testing is conducted after the regular season. The test is used by teams to test new drivers as well as for the organization to test new cars for the followi ...

with Swan-RJB Motorsports. In February 2018, he reunited with Cape Motorsports to contest the 2018 championship. In only his rookie season, Kirkwood dominated proceedings, taking twelve of the fourteen victories on offer and sealing his second title in a year at

and equalling J. R. Hildebrand's record of wins across a season.

Indy Pro 2000

Kirkwood graduated to the championship in 2019, selecting RP Motorsport Racing as his team. After faltering in earlier rounds, Kirkwood took his maiden victories in both races at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Champ ...

. From the second race at

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

onwards, Kirkwood dominated the season and won his fourth consecutive title at the season finale in

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho La ...

despite being taken out by

Danial Frost Danial Nielsen Frost (born 18 October 2001 in Singapore) is a Singaporean auto racing, race car driver. He currently competes in Indy NXT driving for HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing. Career Frost began his racing career in the 2016–17 F ...

Indy Lights

In December 2019, Kirkwood partook in the post-season test at Sebring with reigning champions

. The following month, Andretti confirmed Kirkwood would race with them for the 2020 season, only for that year's running of the championship to be cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Kirkwood won the 2021 Indy Lights Championship for Andretti Autosport. In doing so, he became the first driver to win a championship in every Road to Indy series.

IndyCar

Throughout

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Kirkwood was viewed with significant interest by different teams in the IndyCar Series paddock. Andretti Autosport owner

Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American semi-retired auto racing driver and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART P ...

stated he intended to keep Kirkwood in the Andretti Autosport stable and reiterated this after Kirkwood won the Indy Lights championship. Andretti stated that he was considering moving Kirkwood to

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

if a seat did not open up in IndyCar. As part of winning the Indy Lights championship, Kirkwood was guaranteed to compete in three IndyCar races in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, including the

2022 Indianapolis 500 The 2022 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for sponsorship reasons) was a 500-mile (804.7 km, 200 lap) race in the 2022 IndyCar Series, held on Sunday, May 29, 2022, at the India ...

. On November 10, 2021, it was announced that Kirkwood would drive the No. 14 entry full-time for

A. J. Foyt Enterprises A. J. Foyt Racing, officially and historically known as A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is an American racing team in the IndyCar Series and formerly NASCAR. It is owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, 1972 Daytona 500 winner, 1967 24 Hours of Le ...

during the 2022 IndyCar Series season. He had a best finish of 10th at Long Beach, and ranked 24th in points. On June 1, 2022, Kirkwood and Andretti Autosport announced he would return to the Andretti stable for the 2023 season to replace the departing

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...

Sports car racing

With the 2020 Indy Lights season cancelled due to the

, Kirkwood drove four races in the IMSA Prototype Challenge and also joined AIM Vasser Sullivan Racing for a limited GTD schedule.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Kirkwood was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. ^* Season still in progress.

American open–wheel racing results

U.S. F2000 Championship

Indy Pro 2000 Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Indianapolis 500

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkwood, Kyle 1998 births Living people Racing drivers from Florida U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Formula Regional Americas Championship drivers Indy Lights drivers Indy Lights champions IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers People from Jupiter, Florida WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers RP Motorsport drivers Andretti Autosport drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers United States F4 Championship drivers