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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Rookie Of The Year Title Highlights Pagenaud’s Progress
Last weekend’s race at Sonoma demonstrated just how far Simon Pagenaud has transformed his career in the span of a year.
With his Schmidt Hamilton team behind him, Simon Pagenaud has become a constant threat as an IZOD IndyCar Series rookie. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
Last weekend’s race at Sonoma demonstrated just how far Simon Pagenaud has transformed his career in the span of a year.
At Sonoma in 2011, the 28-year-old Frenchman had a tenuous grasp on an IndyCar career. Filling in for injured drivers had become his forte; he took over Ana Beatriz’s ride at Barber, scything his way to eighth on his series debut. A few months later he was deputized on a Saturday afternoon at Mid-Ohio when Justin Wilson got hurt in practice and finished 13th.
Three weeks later for Sonoma, Pagenaud received a last-minute call from HVM Racing team owner Keith Wiggins to stand in for Simona de Silvestro whose re-entry to the country from Switzerland was denied.
A whirlwind tour took Pagenaud from testing for the Peugeot factory sports car team in Spain through a series of brutal flights to make it to Sonoma just in time for Friday morning practice.
If he’d been a bit of an unknown up to that point—a guy who’d had one season of Champ Car in 2007 and lots of sports car drives in the following years, but wasn’t a familiar name in IZOD IndyCar circles—he cemented a reputation as someone who didn’t need a lot of time or resources to humble many of the bigger teams.
With no experience around the treacherous road course, Pagenaud learned the circuit in a matter of laps during his first session. He also found de Silvestro’s car to be well out of the chassis setup window and ended the session 25th, 2.1 seconds off Dario Franchitti’s quick time.
With wholesale setup changes requested for second practice, he’d bring the gap down to 1.08 seconds, and drew even closer in qualifying, ending up .9 seconds off Will Power’s pole time.
Starting 22nd, he’d improve seven positions to take 15th at the checkered flag, and with his third instance of turning a small team in turmoil into a challenger on short notice, Pagenaud’s perception shifted from ‘Super Sub’ to ‘Super Star.’
Fast forward 12 months and, fittingly, Pagenaud clinched IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year honors at Sonoma with a seventh-place finish driving for Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports.
PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Baltimore 2012
He also sits fifth in points, splitting the Penske, Ganassi and Andretti organizations with Schmidt’s single-car program. As he told SPEED.com, finding his way back to open-wheel racing, along with winning the IndyCar RoY and eventually the drivers’ championship—has all been part of his master plan.
“I am obviously very happy,” he said. “I think the Rookie of the Year is one of the goals we set down goals before the season. But you never know how realistic it can be. And being able to cross off one of the goals even before the seasons finishes is always an enjoyable moment. It required a lot of hard work to come back to Indy car racing, and I had a good year in my one year in Champ Car (in 2007), but this is what I have been wanting for so long.
“And I believe in any kind of reward, you should always take a lot of pride in it. And thanks to the Schmidt Hamilton guys and Honda for providing me the equipment for it. It’s been a very good season so far. Not only for the year but we’re facing the championship, which is an incredible opportunity.”
At Sonoma in 2011, the 28-year-old Frenchman had a tenuous grasp on an IndyCar career. Filling in for injured drivers had become his forte; he took over Ana Beatriz’s ride at Barber, scything his way to eighth on his series debut. A few months later he was deputized on a Saturday afternoon at Mid-Ohio when Justin Wilson got hurt in practice and finished 13th.
Three weeks later for Sonoma, Pagenaud received a last-minute call from HVM Racing team owner Keith Wiggins to stand in for Simona de Silvestro whose re-entry to the country from Switzerland was denied.
A whirlwind tour took Pagenaud from testing for the Peugeot factory sports car team in Spain through a series of brutal flights to make it to Sonoma just in time for Friday morning practice.
If he’d been a bit of an unknown up to that point—a guy who’d had one season of Champ Car in 2007 and lots of sports car drives in the following years, but wasn’t a familiar name in IZOD IndyCar circles—he cemented a reputation as someone who didn’t need a lot of time or resources to humble many of the bigger teams.
With no experience around the treacherous road course, Pagenaud learned the circuit in a matter of laps during his first session. He also found de Silvestro’s car to be well out of the chassis setup window and ended the session 25th, 2.1 seconds off Dario Franchitti’s quick time.
With wholesale setup changes requested for second practice, he’d bring the gap down to 1.08 seconds, and drew even closer in qualifying, ending up .9 seconds off Will Power’s pole time.
Starting 22nd, he’d improve seven positions to take 15th at the checkered flag, and with his third instance of turning a small team in turmoil into a challenger on short notice, Pagenaud’s perception shifted from ‘Super Sub’ to ‘Super Star.’
Fast forward 12 months and, fittingly, Pagenaud clinched IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year honors at Sonoma with a seventh-place finish driving for Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports.
PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Baltimore 2012
He also sits fifth in points, splitting the Penske, Ganassi and Andretti organizations with Schmidt’s single-car program. As he told SPEED.com, finding his way back to open-wheel racing, along with winning the IndyCar RoY and eventually the drivers’ championship—has all been part of his master plan.
“I am obviously very happy,” he said. “I think the Rookie of the Year is one of the goals we set down goals before the season. But you never know how realistic it can be. And being able to cross off one of the goals even before the seasons finishes is always an enjoyable moment. It required a lot of hard work to come back to Indy car racing, and I had a good year in my one year in Champ Car (in 2007), but this is what I have been wanting for so long.
“And I believe in any kind of reward, you should always take a lot of pride in it. And thanks to the Schmidt Hamilton guys and Honda for providing me the equipment for it. It’s been a very good season so far. Not only for the year but we’re facing the championship, which is an incredible opportunity.”
2013 INDY 500 Practice
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