Popular Canadian James Hinchcliffe has taken up a multi-year contract with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
Hinchcliffe moves from the Andretti Autosports team to take up the drive in the #77 car which had been occupied by Simon Pagenaud who moves to a four-car Team Penske operation next season.
The 27-year-old will begin off-season testing with SPM immediately.
“Despite being around in Indy Lights for years, SPM is a relatively young team in the IndyCar paddock,” Hinchcliffe said.
“To see what they have accomplished in the last few seasons has been incredible. Winning races, being competitive at all tracks and finishing in the top five in the championship against more experienced teams at this level is impressive.
“Because they are young, there is still room for them to grow and improve, and that’s an exciting thought for me.”
It will be a home-coming of sorts for Hinchcliffe who drove for SPM in the Indy Lights class in 2009.
“James had great success in Indy Lights and other series on his way to IndyCar,” team co-owner Sam Schmidt said.
“In fact, he would already be with us driving the #77 if he would have been available three years ago.
“We went after him in 2011, but it didn’t work out then.
“We know that his success in the Verizon IndyCar Series is no fluke.
“We’ve now won races and contended for championships, and we believe he’s going to be the person we need to keep moving forward as a team.”
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