Rosenqvist replaces Pagenaud at MSR IndyCar team

Felix Rosenqvist will take over the Meyer Shank Racing seat of Simon Pagenaud from the 2024 IndyCar season.

MSR has announced a multi-year contract with the Swede, making for an all-new driver line-up following the decision to shift Tom Blomqvist from its IMSA programme, while Helio Castroneves becomes a minority shareholder in the team and will still contest the Indianapolis 500.

Blomqvist is in fact already driving Pagenaud’s #60 Honda, the Frenchman having not competed since a crash at Mid-Ohio on July 1 due to “lingering post-concussion symptoms.”

For now, Pagenaud, who won a championship and the Indy 500 with Team Penske, is not giving up on one day racing again.

“I would like to wish MSR all the best and thank Mike Shank, Jim Meyer and the whole team for the valuable experiences I have gathered through the last two years,” he wrote on social media.

“I wish we could have achieved more together over the last two seasons and win races, but we could not make it happen.

“For now, my goal is to fully focus on myself and recuperating. It is a slow process, and I will continue to work with the doctors and do what is necessary to get my health back to 100 percent.”

Rosenqvist, who joins from the McLaren IndyCar Team, said, “I’m super excited to start the next chapter of my IndyCar career together with MSR.

“This will be a great opportunity for myself and MSR to elevate and get to the next level together.

“I’m also pretty excited to get to work with my old friend Tom again.

“I’m ready to start working together and getting the next season started.”

Shank remarked, “We’re very excited to have our 2024 IndyCar plans finalised and to welcome Felix to the team.

“Felix has been someone that has been on our radar for quite some time now, and everything lined up this year to work something out with him.

“It’s no secret that we’ve had a difficult season, with some things out of our control and some things in our control.

“I think we are all looking forward to resetting completely, starting over and getting to work.

“I think Tom and Felix will work great together and really feed off of each other.

“We will also have Helio with us at every race to provide his feedback and advice, which will be an added bonus, so I think we’re in for a solid year ahead.”

McLaren also has Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi on its books for IndyCar, but has taken legal action against Alex Palou for alleged breach of contract.

Palou has already wrapped up the 2023 IndyCar Series title with Chip Ganassi Racing, ahead of the final event of the season, this weekend at Laguna Seca.