Following a successful season that led him to a fifth place finish in the season ending Verizon IndyCar Series points standings, Simon Pagenaud made the decision to leave Schmidt Peterson Hamilton.
“It was a very tough decision to leave Schmidt Peterson Hamilton,” Pagenaud told SpeedwayMedia.com earlier this month. “I couldn’t have asked for more success than we had over the last couple of years. That is a good race team and they will have success this year with James Hinchcliffe.
“When Roger Penske calls you and asks you to race for him it seems impossible to say no.”
The Poitiers, France driver will now move to Team Penske for 2015, driving the No. 22 Chevrolet.
“Well, first of all I’m very excited to get my Team Penske career started,” he commented. “Every driver wants to race for Roger Penske at some point in their career. I look forward to many successful seasons with Team Penske. The Verizon IndyCar Series is going through a lot of change this year with the new aero kits, but I expect our No. 22 Chevrolet team to start fast. The competition will be fierce but with our driver lineup we will be in a strong position every week end for Team Penske. That is very exciting.”
The pieces of the puzzles for Pagenaud and Penske began to come together while Pagenaud was racing in the American Le Mans Series for Gil de Ferran in 2008 and 2009.
“It was at that time that I met (Team Penske president) Tim Cindric,” Pagenaud recalled. “I didn’t know it at the time, but Gil told Tim that they should look at hiring me when they had the chance. It took a few years for that to eventually happen, but I’m here now and couldn’t be happier.”
Pagenaud now becomes the fourth driver at Team Penske, joining 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series Champion Will Power, Runner-up Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya.
”Honestly, I don’t think there have been many lineups like this in INDYCAR history,” Pagenaud said. “Just being the highest-finishing Team Penske driver is going to be quite an accomplishment each weekend, but I’m very excited to work with all three of these guys. Not only are they different personalities, they have different driving styles that will be beneficial to all four of us.”
The 30-year-old went on to say that he is looking forward to working his teammates at the oval tracks this year as they’re all great oval racers. With that said, he expects their team to have a lot of success in the biggest race of the year, the Indianapolis 500.
“Driving for Team Penske you know you are going to have a great car for that race because of the importance Roger puts on running well there,” he said. “The new aero package will provide a bit of an unknown for Indy, but I’m am definitely looking forward to that race.”
Going into the year, the expectations are simple – win races and compete for the championship.
“Every driver at Team Penske has those same expectations,” Pagenaud added. “We have everything we need to be successful.”
The success doesn’t seem out of the question for Pagenaud, though, as he comes off a year that saw him score two victories and three podiums.
“I’m happy with the season we had at SPH,” he commented. “Any time you can win multiple races in a season and be a title contender right down to the final race, you’ve had a good season. I feel well prepared for me to have another good run in my first year with Team Penske.”
