"Had some offers for this year that didn't quite materialize" - James Roe on his IndyCar prospects, Sportscars and more
- Aaron Carroll
- 30 minutes ago
- 5 min read
After a busy start to the season in Daytona, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, James Roe took the time to speak with DIVEBOMB Motorsports Magazine about his IndyCar test in October, venture into Sportscar racing, future plans and more.
Roe has been racing in the Indy NXT series since 2023 with Andretti, finally getting his first test in an IndyCar last October, with Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR). The test was a dream come true moment for the Irishman.
"I always dreamed of driving an IndyCar and came to America in 2018 with a dream of getting to IndyCar. It was a big deal to get that [test] and then to have it in Indianapolis Motor Speedway, of all places, was even better again."
He completed a successful test, setting a 1:11.600 lap time on the Indianapolis Road Course, just over six tenths of a second away from Mick Schumacher's top time.
"We had a great day. Did over race distance worth of laps in the course of the day and was physically fine and pace was pretty strong. So all in all, we were happy with how it went. Itching to get back in one now"
With the test behind, Roe's eyes are on the future. "IndyCar is where I want to be. Full-time IndyCar is the goal and the dream." he said. Chances to realise that dream may be arising for the young Irishman.
"Had some offers for this year that didn't quite materialize for various different reasons. So now 2027 is the goal."
To get there though, he'll need to put together a strong Indy NXT campaign in 2026 with Chip Ganassi Racing, following a three year stint with Andretti.
"There's no doubt about it that it won't be a walk in the park. Indy NXT is a very, very competitive championship.
"Ganassi is a top-tier team and obviously they have amazing resources under the roof of the building and very smart people in there. So, I'm confident if we all work hard enough and apply ourselves in the right areas that we can turn it into something.
"But that's not saying it's going to be easy. The goal and the expectation from everyone involved is that we're at the front and we're fighting at the pointy end of the grid week in, week out."
In the meantime, Roe is using Sportscar racing - in the form of IMSA and the Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS) - to hone his skills in longer form racing.
"The reason for doing it, believe it or not, is to get long-distance racing under our belt. If you come up the road to Indy, you only ever do a maximum of 50 minutes at a time in a car.
"There's no pit stops, no strategy, no fuel saving and no options on tyres. If you don't do sports car racing alongside Indy NXT, you arrive in IndyCar without ever doing pit stops, without ever being in the car for more than 50 minutes. So there's method behind the madness."
That "madness" for 2026 began just over a month ago, at the Daytona International Speedway. Alongside Scott Andrews, Lin Hodenius and Ralf Aron, Roe piloted the No.80 Lone Star Mercedes to sixth in the GTD class, but that could've been much more for the crew.
"A lot of people don't know this, but there was a safety car with an hour and a half to go. All our timing screens went down. So we didn't take a pass around because we didn't know where we were on track to the relative leader.
"We actually fell back to last in class on the lead lap , but came back to 6th. The Winward car that won was two spots behind us when that happened.
"Did we have the pace to win it? I don't think outright at the end, but could we have been on the podium? Absolutely." he explained.
Despite the unfortunate technical difficulties, it was still a promising performance for the quartet.
"A safe, clean race in Daytona is kind of what you're after. If you're having incidents or coming in and handing the car over to your teammates, damaged or missing any pieces, it only makes everyone's job harder.
"So we were really proud of how that race went from an execution standpoint. Not one mistake from any driver, not one mistake in the pits by the crew, not one penalty.
"But that's race. To win it, everything needs to come together. There's so much to it that one little piece overlooked or one thing at the wrong time, and you're out of it."
Straight after Daytona, it was off to Asia for the AsLMS, and back-to-back weekends in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The three round season (which kicked off in Malaysia at the end of 2025) was a tough one for Roe in the No.11 TF Sport Corvette. Him and the crew ended up 16th in the GT class standings.
When asked what went wrong, Roe replied; "Good question. We're still trying to figure that out. I mean, if you told any of the Corvette teams there's not going to be a Corvette in the top ten of the points, no one would've believed you.
"The front engine and rear engine cars seem to have had a clear advantage if you look at the championship. They just switched the tyre on better and mid-engine cars (such as the Corvette) struggled."
Since the engine is the main distributor of weight in the car, having it over the front or rear tyres puts more force on the respective axel, heating the tyres up quicker.
He'll return to sportscar racing in just a few weeks time, for the 12 Hours of Sebring, back in the Lone Star Mercedes.
A proud Irishman, Roe ended with a few words on his home nation.
"I always love going home to Ireland. The Irish support obviously means the world.
"I have been over here in the US a long time now. since 2018, which is hard to believe. So having the Irish support, maintaining the Irish support and keeping my roots in Ireland, that's very, very important to me.
"I've got the shamrock on the forefront of my helmet and that's something we're very proud of. There's nothing like flying the Irish flag in America."
Irish motorsports has also seen a recent boost in popularity, so we asked Roe a bit about that from his perspective too.
"What's the reasoning for it? I don't know. I just think it's probably everything goes in waves and throughs and there's momentum moments and we're just in that wave right now.
"Long may it last. I think it's just a very healthy time for Irish motorsport on an international stage and hopefully that filters down and starts at the grassroots of the next generation in Ireland and in 10 or 15 years time, we have another crop at this level."
