IndyCar – Mikhail Aleshin with SPM at Sonoma

Engaged this year in European Le Mans Series on one of the BR01 LM P2 of SMP Racing, the Russian Mikhail Aleshin will make his return in IndyCar Series during the season finale on August 30 on the road course in Sonoma, California.

C'est sur une Dallara DW12? Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, the team he attended last year in the American championship, that the 28-year-old driver will play alongside starters James Jakes and Ryan Briscoe, who replaces James Hinchcliffe, injured in an accident in Indianapolis last May. Aleshin will be in preliminary testing in mid-August, still in Sonoma.

“I am extremely happy to make my return to this championship and to this team, with whom I raced last year and achieved good performances, explains the native of Moscow, seriously injured and withdrew from the IndyCar final in 2014 on the Fontana oval (California), following rib and shoulder injuries.

" This year, my priority isELMS and the development of the BR01. For next year we are doing everything possible to continue in IndyCar and I hope this race can be an important step towards that goal. »

An opinion shared by Sam Schmidt, boss of the SPM, who specifies that contacts have never been broken between the driver and his team and who leaves the door open for Aleshin to return in 2016. “If he 'performs' in Sonoma, maybe we'll see him back here next year.

We talked all year. At first it was an attempt to try to do the Indy 500 with a third car. This did not happen due to a conflict with his schedule in Europe. Now it's available so we'll see what happens. »

Find the full report of the Mid-Ohio round in IndyCar, in issue 2023 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version and on newsstands.