Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
The cast: Drivers – Simon Pagenaud and Mikail Aleshin. Chief engineers – Ben Bretzman (Pagenaud) and Allen McDonald (Aleshin, in photo at bottom with McDonald). Race strategists – Sam Schmidt (Pagenaud) and Allen McDonald (Aleshin).
Twitter: @simonpagenaud, @mikailaleshin, @SPMIndyCar
The cars: Honda-powered No. 77 (Pagenaud) and No. 7 (Aleshin)
Watch it: Simon Pagenaud previews the 2014 season
Snapshot: This will be the third full season of Pagenaud working with his race engineer and with the team, and the continuity will make a mark on the season. … Pagenaud co-drove an HPD ARX-03b Honda Prototype to seventh place overall in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in late January and will co-drove the car in the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 13-15 (with a day off before the first IndyCar Series Open Test at Barber Motorsports Park). … Aleshin, a native of Moscow, recently had quite the adventure with McDonald shopping for items to stock his new residence in Indianapolis. Last week, he also got a taste of the NBA – and spicy local cocktail sauce – in a shrimp eating contest during halftime of the Indiana Pacers’ home game. ... Aleshin will be the first Russian driver in the IndyCar Series. He 27th birthday is three days before competing in his first Indianapolis 500.
The stats: Pagenaud jumped from fifth in the championship in 2012 to third, so he expects – and is expected – to be a title contender this season. He qualified four times for the Firestone Fast Six (of 13 events), with a best qualifying effort of third at Baltimore and Houston 2, so higher starting positions (he averaged 11.6) would be an area for improvement. He gave team co-owners Sam Schmidt, Ric Peterson and Davey Hamilton their first IndyCar Series victory at Belle Isle last June and followed up with a victory on the streets of Baltimore. Overall, Pagenaud recorded 13 top-10 finishes in the 19 races. He was running at the finish in 17 (mechanical in the first and final races). … Aleshin was the 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 champion in a field that included future Formula One drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne and former Sam Schmidt Motorsports Indy Lights driver Esteban Guerrieri. Aleshin also has competed in the GP2 and GP3 series, the Superleague Formula and was the co-champion of the German Formula Renault 2.0 Series.
The gist: Both drivers will run under the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports banner. Hamilton has rejoined Schmidt and Peterson as a team owner but won’t be listed as another entry (Pagenaud drove under Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports the past two seasons). … It’s the second consecutive season that the team has two full-season entries. … The team has produced the past two Sunoco Rookie of the Year award winners (Tristan Vautier and Pagenaud). … The No. 7 car’s primary sponsor (SMP) has been operating in the Russian bank market since 2001 and currently offers both personal and corporate banking services, including financial institutions. … Aleshin zipped through his oval rookie test earlier this month at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Both drivers most recently tested at Sonoma Raceway (Feb. 12) and Sebring International Raceway (Feb. 3-4).
They said it: “I’ve proven what I can do already, although I want to extract more out of myself,” Pagenaud said. “The team is pushing really hard, and people don’t see how much work my guys are putting in. I can tell you they’re working hard at making this car a championship contender for this year. It’s a very exciting prospect. I’m relaxed and focused and happy to be starting soon.”
Added Aleshin: “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 and is very good at developing drivers. In terms of preparation, everything is where it should be. We’re taking every action seriously at the track, and each thing we do we’ve prepared in advance for. We’re using every opportunity to get something from it.”
