“The ambitions are high” for Simon Pagenaud

Simon Pagenaud was, at the end of last season, certainly the most watched driver in the paddock. In 3 full seasons with an honorable mid-field team, he finished in the top 5 in the championship three times. Last year, he placed himself among 5 champions and a three-time Indy 500 winner in the final standings.

It was ultimately Penske who took on the Frenchman at the end of his contract with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. And it’s no surprise to everyone: “There was an interest from both Penske and myself to work together since 2008,” Pagenaud tells us, “Gil de Ferran [his teammate and boss at the time in the American Le Mans Series] had told Roger Penske to keep an eye on me. So we stayed in touch and it happened this year. It was a matter of timing since I was out of contract and it was the right time for them and for me.”

Simon thus finds himself on the same team as Will Power (the reigning champion), Helio Castroneves (3-time Indy 500 winner and 4-time runner-up), and Juan Pablo Montoya (CART champion in 1999, Indy 500 winner in 2000, and Formula 1 race winner, including the Monaco Grand Prix).

« My childhood dream was to race for Roger Penske »

Simon Pagenaud is not only leaving SPM but also the engine manufacturer Honda, with whom he was under contract, as the Penske cars are equipped with Chevrolet V6s: « It was difficult to leave Honda considering everything I had done with them before, everything I learned, and all they brought to me. »

The Montmorillon driver is the 2010 champion in the American Le Mans Series in an HPD (Honda Performance Development) prototype and class winner at Pikes Peak behind the wheel of a Honda Odyssey minivan with over 500 hp.

It’s never an easy decision, continues the Frenchman, and in any career, you have to sit at a table and weigh the pros and cons. It’s primarily a career, but it’s also a business, and you have to think long-term. Honestly, in this case, I tried to look at the next ten years to see what would be the best opportunity for me to win races and be in the best possible position to win the Indianapolis 500. In the “pros,” emotions also played a part: For me, it was Ferrari in Formula 1 or Penske in IndyCar, since I was a child, since the age of four. Today, it’s exceptional to be part of this team.

Here comes Penske 22!

During the early-year tests, the No. 22 car of the French driver showcased the Team Penske logo. Negotiations are ongoing with several sponsors. Despite this, the budget is well secured for the entire season.

The choice of number 22 is not insignificant for the team as it has successfully used this number in the first two divisions of NASCAR, particularly in the Sprint Cup with Joey Logano, who won the prestigious Daytona 500 last February. As a reminder, in North America, teams are the owners of the numbers on the cars, not the drivers.

On the anecdote side, 3 French drivers have raced in North American single-seaters with this number: Stéphan Gregoire in 1997, Didier André in 2001, and… Simon Pagenaud in 2011 during a one-off at Mid-Ohio. No driver with this number has won a race.

Heads or tails? Chevrolet or Honda?

This year, both engine manufacturers have each developed their aerodynamic kits for their clients. Uncertainty prevails in most teams regarding the performance of these visually distinct kits.

« A team like Penske has the means and resources to do more development and research than other teams. From that point of view, I think it’s an advantage, » argues Pagenaud. On the other hand: « The disadvantage is that Penske was dominant until now with the old version of IndyCar [with the bodywork developed by Dallara, the chassis manufacturer], now we don’t really know how it will be this year. That’s what’s exciting for everyone and what’s a bit worrying for us, in the race. Will the Chevrolet kit be better? Will the Honda kit be better? »

« Every year we set out with the mindset to win.

« Now I am in the dominant team, the top-level team, so it’s certain that the ambitions are high. But above all, my goal is to extract the maximum from myself. » Pagenaud is not arriving alone at Penske as he brings along his long-time race engineer, Ben Bretzman.

« We have a brand new team, with new mechanics and a new strategist [Kyle Moyer, from Andretti Autosport]. So we need to put all that in place, we need to be a little patient at the beginning, but it’s clear that we should be in a position to fight for the championship. »

For testing and setup research « all the data is shared at Penske. We work with a completely open book. Whether it’s Power’s or Montoya’s setups, we know all the little details and then adapt the car to our liking, » Pagenaud says. It’s a way to pool experiences to advance the team. « Then it will be the best on track who wins. »

Last year, there were small frictions that occurred repeatedly between Pagenaud and Power. It’s a bit what happens when you’re fighting for victories against someone as competitive. Now we are teammates, so we need to work together. Things are going very well at the moment, and we have orders to ensure that a Penske wins as a priority.

Despite these directives, Team Penske is not accustomed to team orders, as confirmed by Pagenaud: « The big advantage of this team is that it allows us to race freely among ourselves. »

© IndyCar – Penske’s dream team: Montoya, Power, Pagenaud, Castroneves

Comments collected on 03/12/2015. The Motors Inside team especially thanks Simon Pagenaud’s community manager, the Team Penske public relations team, and of course Simon Pagenaud for taking the time to respond to us despite his very busy schedule.