In the second part of an exclusive interview with Pit Debrief, Juan Manuel Correa spoke about switching from F2 to Indy NXT, his IndyCar ambitions, the friendlier atmosphere in the North American paddock, and his 2026 season so far.
A new journey begins after leaving Formula 2 and Europe
Following an eight-year journey that started out in F4 and ended in F2 in 2024, the 26-year-old called it quits and ended his goal of trying to make it to Formula 1.
Having made a remarkable return to the series in late 2022 before embarking on a full campaign with Van Amersfoort Racing in 2023, the American-Ecuadorian moved to DAMS Lucas Oil in 2024.
Although he showed tremendous speed at times, including scoring a first podium in five years in the 2024 F2 Spanish GP feature race, he ultimately made the call to move on.
“I view it as both [the end of one path and the start of a new opportunity]. It was the end of my road to F1 career, but it was the beginning of the next chapter.
“I truly love where my career and my life is at right now.
“I felt like during that season in 2024, it was sort of like the last shot of either having a really good season or probably looking at a different path. It just didn’t work out.
“And even though I had podiums, we had great races, great speed, fought for wins in a few of the feature races, it still wasn’t the season I wanted.
“The doors in F1 are very small. And to get an opportunity, it’s difficult. I just didn’t see like there was a path forward towards Formula 1. So that’s where I decided to make the switch.”
IndyCar has been on the radar for some time
With his former F2 teammate Callum Ilott heading Stateside in 2021 ahead of a full-time move to IndyCar in 2022, the series started to quickly appeal to Correa. More and more of those based in or from Europe have done the same in recent years.
By the end of 2024, his new goal was to try and make it to IndyCar. He also praised the nature of the racing in the premier single-seater series in North America.
“And at the same time, I had been following IndyCar already since 2021/2022, quite heavily, because a few of my friends from Europe had made the switch to IndyCar.
“And I mean, it doesn’t take much. When you see an IndyCar race, you kind of realise like that is really pure racing. It’s a lot of fun. And everybody that’s in IndyCar loves it.
“So I started kind of considering this could be a really cool career path for me. 2024 just felt like, ‘OK, this is the moment, I’m not going to waste my time anymore here in Europe’. And yeah, I moved back to Miami.
“Even getting the Indy NXT seat wasn’t really planned. I kind of came to the US to see what opportunities were here for me.
“Everything just kind of fell into place in that sense. And here I am.
“So in a way, it’s worked out. But I want to go to IndyCar. So that’s the next step, and that’s what I’m working towards.”
A nicer and more human paddock in IndyCar versus Formula 1 and Formula 2/3
In terms of popularity, there is no contest. Formula 1 has grown vastly in recent years throughout the world as well to extend the viewership gap.
However, as has always been the case, there is vast sums of money in the F1 paddock, as well as in the F2 and F3 one to a lesser extent. Politics are always around the corner also, whether it involves drivers, teams and/or the governing body.
Speaking in 2023, Christian Lundgaard revealed how IndyCar had brought the spark and fun back after his time in Formula 2.
On this, Juan Manuel Correa feels there is less judgement in the IndyCar paddock and people are more true to themselves.
“Yeah, I would say so [it is more relaxed and friendly].
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, F1 people are very nice and friendly, but it is a bit more, like, cut-throat, political in some ways.
“There’s a lot more judgement. Yeah, that’s that’s the vibe I always got.
“Being in the US now for a year, I’m having more fun, definitely. Everybody is a little bit more human, it seems like.”
Correa praises IndyCar and Indy NXT for their efforts on the commercial side
The current Cusick Morgan Motorsports driver also gave credit to Indy NXT and IndyCar for their support in trying to bring sponsors into the series to help drivers secure funding.
While budgets are nowhere as high as in Europe with F2 — and the American path helps with scholarships — bringing sponsors onboard is still critically important to continue to pursue the goal of making IndyCar.
“Also, I got to give a huge shout out to Indy NXT and IndyCar. They do an amazing job trying to give us, the drivers, support in bringing partners and marketing ourselves. That is something that I missed a lot in Europe, in the categories I did.
“Here, I feel like the IndyCar organisation has a really good understanding that without partners, without money, this doesn’t function. So they actually make that a priority in many ways, and that has been very refreshing for me.
“And I can already feel the difference with the partners. Like, I’ve been able to bring in more partners over the last year to my Indy NXT campaign than I did to my F2 campaign in four years in Europe. So I think that talks a lot about how advanced we are over here, commercially speaking.”
Great camaraderie
Juan Manuel Correa also talked about the fun and good team spirit within Cusick Morgan Motorsports. The team having a technical alliance with HMD Motorsports means even more teammates and plenty of laughs.
“And yeah, it’s just been fun. I think also, you know, the guys and girls at Cusick Morgan Motorsports are awesome. Our technical partnership with HMD is great, and we all get along really well.
“It’s just a lot of laughs, you know. We’re professional, we work hard, we want to win, but we have a good time when we’re at the track, and that’s always important.”
Juan Manuel Correa on his 2026 Indy NXT season so far
It has been a good start for Correa to his first full year in the series. Having done nine of the fourteen rounds in 2025 with HMD, which included a first podium in Detroit, the multi-time F2 podium finisher sits 6th in points after four races this time around.
The start to 2026 has seen a campaign of consistency. Aside from getting spun around on lap 1 of race 1 at Barber — when he made a superb charge back to P11 — the 26-year-old has finished in the top 10 in every qualifying session or race. On a stacked grid, that is no mean feat.
When Pit Debrief asked him what is missing to regularly fight for podiums in Indy NXT, Correa says improving qualifying is key. His best qualifying result has been a P7 to date in Arlington.
While overtaking is not impossible in the series, it is certainly not easy to do, particularly inside the top 10.
“If I have to pinpoint the main issue is, we’ve rolled out good at most of the races, been competitive throughout the practices. [But] we still haven’t had a qualifying where I felt like the performance was there and I was able to extract it.
“We’re trying to fix that and see if there’s a common trend or if we’ve been unlucky and kind of not done the right things. Maybe myself, I’m not extracting the most out of it.
“So it’s something that we’re working on, because I think the moment we do and we qualify where we truly should be, which is should be probably like top five every race, then it’s a lot easier to manage a race from there and fight for a podium, for a win. You’re just going to be in the mix.
“But Indy NXT, the moment you start qualifying ninth, tenth, which is kind of where I’ve been, you’re also exposing yourself to getting taken out in the first lap, right? It’s where the mess is.
“We want to avoid that and qualify more in the front.”
