Yahoo Autos 2016 IndyCar Champion Simon Pagenaud Is Leaving Penske
When Simon Pagenaud joined Team Penske's celebrated IndyCar program in 2015, the expectation was that he would win races, championships, and Indianapolis 500s. Seven years later, he leaves the programs with every one of those boxes checked.
Pagenaud is headed to Meyer Shank Racing, the team that has been racing at least part-time in the IndyCar Series with Jack Harvey since 2017. Harvey is expected to join Rahal Letterman Lanigan for the 2022 season, so Pagenaud will replace him in a two-car MSR program alongside his former Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves.
MSR has just one IndyCar win to its name, but that win happens to be the 2021 Indianapolis 500. The team also runs a factory-backed Acura DPi in IMSA, part of a long history of sports car racing that also includes the overall win in the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona and last year's GTD championship. By expanding to a two-car, full-time program with two veteran names, MSR expects their IndyCar program to grow into a more proven competitor.
The team's sports car program makes it a unique landing spot for both Castroneves and Pagenaud, who both raced with Team Penske's now-shuttered Acura DPi when they were affiliated with the team. While they did so at very different points in their careers, both Pagenaud and Castroneves won prototype championships as sports car drivers in multi-year stints off the American open wheel grid. Both are considered among the strongest third (and fourth) drivers an endurance racing team can find.
In addition to the championship and 500 win, Pagenaud collected 11 total wins and two runner-up finishes in the championship standings in his seven years at Penske. He will join Meyer Shank Racing coming off a winless season, but he still finished eighth in the series championship and will still be considered an elite driver when the new season starts at St. Petersburg in February.
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