Kyle Kirkwood sets a lofty goal for 2025 after career-best run with Andretti Global

Kyle Kirkwood was one of the most consistent drivers in the 2024 IndyCar season. The Andretti Global driver scored 13 Top 10 finishes in the 17 points-paying races to record a career-best 7th place finish in the standings. Ahead of the 2025 season, Kirkwood is boldly eyeing his maiden championship.

In an interview with @IndyCarRadio, the No. 27 Honda driver first spoke about his perception of his 2024 results. While many could consider his last season a failure because he failed to record a victory, unlike in 2023 (when he won 2 races), he disagreed.

"If you look at the results, some people might say it's a worse year because I didn't have the two wins that I had in 2023. But for me, if we look at the season as a whole, we had a lot more consistent finishes, we had a lot more top fives, and we gave ourselves a lot more opportunities to win. We had four opportunities to win if I look at the races that I led, outright led, not because of some strategy thing. We had four of those and they didn't pan out for us, unfortunately. Whereas in 2023, the two opportunities we had, we were able to capitalize on it," Kyle Kirkwood explained.

When asked about his major goal for the upcoming IndyCar season, the 26-year-old didn't shy away from aiming for more wins and ultimately, the championship, adding:

"Get a few wins, be in championship contention at the end of the year and obviously, go for the championship, but really getting to the end of the season and putting ourselves in that championship hunt."

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Kyle Kirkwood puts on a decent show at IndyCar's Sebring test

AUTO: MAY 12 INDYCAR Series GMR Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Kyle Kirkwood had a respectable test outing with Andretti Global on day 1 of IndyCar's two-day preseason test at Sebring. He took the wheel of his No. 27 car in the morning session and completed 57 laps around the 1.67-mile circuit.

His best time of 52.8296s meant he slotted in sixth place out of the 14 drivers in the morning session, and 11th out of 26 overall. This lap time made him the second-best Andretti driver on track. While Colton Herta was the ninth-fastest overall, his other teammate Marcus Ericsson was down in 19th place.

These numbers, however, need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Not all teams go all out during testing. Each team has differing run plans for each of its drivers. For comparison, when Andretti tested their cars at the Thermal Club in January end, Ericsson was the fastest while Herta was the slowest.

Kyle Kirkwood will return for testing in the afternoon session on day 2 at Sebring. His No. 27 Honda will have a new Chili's-branded livery for the season opener at St. Petersburg on March 2.