Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports and Schmidt Peterson HP Motorsports

The cast: Drivers – Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Vautier. Chief engineers – Ben Bretzman (Pagenaud) and Allen McDonald (Vautier). Race strategists – Sam Schmidt (Pagenaud) and Allen McDonald (Vautier).

Twitter: @simonpagenaud, @TristanVautier, @SPMIndyCar

The cars: No. 77 Honda-powered HP (Pagenaud) and No. 55 Honda-powered Florida Lottery (for St. Petersburg opening race) (Vautier)

Snapshot: On March 10, Pagenaud co-drove to first in class and fifth overall in the Rallye National Vautier de la Vienne in France. ... Vautier acknowledges he often sings in the shower and in his street car (not in his race car).

The stats: Pagenaud recorded six top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 15 races in 2012 to place fifth in the championship standings. … He had career-best best finish of second at Long Beach, and added three other podium finishes on road/street circuits. … He had best qualifying effort of third at Mid-Ohio. … He completed 1,961 laps (of 1,968) and tied two others by running at the finish in 14 races. … Vautier posted four victories (all from the pole), including one oval, and had 10 top-five finishes overall in 12 races in his lone season in Firestone Indy Lights. … He earned five pole starts and was running at the finish in 11 races.

Vautier and engineer at SebringThe gist: The operation (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Vautier and Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports with Pagenaud) -- will have two full-season entries for the first time. Pagenaud, the 2012 Sunoco Rookie of the Year, is paired with rookie Vautier. It would be more appropriate to label Pagenaud a first-year IZOD IndyCar Series competitor as he made three series starts in 2011 and 14 in Champ Car in 2007. Vautier won the Star Mazda and Firestone Indy Lights titles in consecutive seasons to get his shot in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Vautier, 23, won in his debut in Star Mazda in 2010 and Firestone Indy Lights in 2012 on the St. Petersburg street course. On March 24, he’ll make his initial IZOD IndyCar Series start on the 1.8-mile circuit. Veteran Allen McDonald (right with Vautier) is his race engineer. 

They said it: “You can always set some goals, which I’m not keen on,” Pagenaud said. “There’s room for improvement and with a two-car team there will be improvement. The nice thing is we have two cars for sharing information. The pure result at the end of the year will be in part on outside factors of what others are going to do, but if we focus on ourselves I think we’ll be in good shape. The team is becoming one of the top teams with all the resources.

“Tristan won several championships in the ladder series and anyone who can do that has a bright future. He has the intellect to be up on the time chart quickly. He’ll have a lot of things to learn in the races. The advantage is he has a teammate and a package that’s already sorted.”

Added Vautier: “It’s a big first step and I’ll try to learn as quickly as I can because there will be many new things this year. The team has great resources. “(Moving to the IZOD IndyCar Series) is something I have to look at as an opportunity and not an accomplishment because I have to make the most of it.”