Carlos Munoz Outclassed All Rookies in 2014

The 2014 IndyCar season had 23 full time drivers, four of those were rookies to the IndyCar series.  Carlos Huertas, Jack Hawksworth, Mikhail Aleshin, and Carlos Munoz were the drivers getting their first full season shot in one of the premiere open-wheel series.  One of these rookies made his presence in the series well known and stood out among the others, Colombian racing driver Carlos Munoz.

Munoz drove for Andretti Autosport in the 2014 season along with IndyCar veterans Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and James Hinchcliffe.  The 22 year old is on the younger side of the grid in terms of time behind the wheel, but showed no trouble getting up to speed with the more experienced field throughout the season.  He recorded nine top-ten finishes in the season, including three podiums for third place each time.  Of those top-ten finishes, five were within the top five.  His average finishing position for the year came out to 10.6, roughly four positions higher than the next best rookie, Mikhail Aleshin (14.4).

It’s not that Munoz didn’t have races that caused him some trouble (see below), but he was able to offset the poor results with better ones, something the other rookies failed to do.