IndyCar – Pagenaud shows patience

simon pagenaud is still aiming for his first victory with Team Penske since joining his new team this season. If Poitevin achieves good performances, success does not seem to be on his side (see: report of the Alabama GP in the 2009 issue of AUTOhebdo). The driver of the No. 22 is now in 9th place in the Championship with only 5 points ahead of his compatriot Sébastien Bourdais which plays within KVSH Racing, a smaller team.

If the former resident of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was hoping for a better start to the season, their risk-taking has not yet been rewarded. The French pilot was notably involved in an accident at Louisiana GP in New Orleans and saw his race destroyed by a yellow flag ruining his strategy at Alabama GP. But the Frenchman knows he must keep a cool head, remembering that he fought for the title in 2014 when his start to the season had been discreet.

“We qualified very well. It's interesting because it was the opposite for the last three years. I am satisfied to have such a rhythm whereas my strength previously was to be regular”, underlines Simon Pagenaud on the IndyCar website. “The results didn't follow because I wasn't very lucky and luck always counts in racing. I am certainly within the Team Penske, but we are a new team on the No. 22 side. We have all the elements to reach a constant level, consistency being the key in competition…”

Simon Pagenaud will participate on May 7 in the first tests of the Indianapolis GP contested on the road circuit. He scored his first victory of the season there.

Find this week in Self the first part of a column written by Simon. We are indeed delighted to welcome the Penske pilot in IndyCar in our pages. He will regularly correspond with AUTOhebdo on his performances and his life in the United States. Welcome Simon!