HONDA INDY 200

IndyCar driver positive, not pensive about 2015

Rob McCurdy
Reporter
  • Simon Pagenaud has finished in the top five of the standings over the last three seasons.
  • In his first year with Team Penske, he’s made the Firestone Fast Six all but twice.
  • But, he’s turned those starts into just one podium and two other top five finishes.
  • The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will be Sunday afternoon, live on CNBC.

LEXINGTON – Whether he’s antsy, pensive, frustrated, disheartened or just plain nervous, Simon Pagenaud isn’t showing it.

The Verizon IndyCar Series driver remains optimistic and downright cheery — at least in public — when talking about his 2015, one that was supposed to vault the native of France to the top of the standings.

“It’s clicked pretty well. If you look at my qualifying records so far, it’s the best it has ever been in my IndyCar career,” Pagenaud said as he readies for this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.

It’s true he’s won a pole position and started in the front row four times this year. Other than the second race in Detroit and another at Milwaukee, he’s made the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying every time.

However, the race finishes haven’t reflected the race starts.

Pagenaud is winless with just one podium and two other top fives.

“We’re close. We’re really close,” he said. “Sometimes we only look at the results, but you have to look at how the race unfolds and how we are performing. It’s really close, but it’s just the details we have to put together. IndyCar is different from a lot of racing series. Sometimes when it doesn’t want to smile, it doesn’t want to smile.”

Despite it, Pagenaud keeps smiling.

After a successful run with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports where he won four times over the last two years and finished in the top five of the points standings the last three seasons, Pagenaud made his move to IndyCar’s version of the New York Yankees.

He is the newest member of the four-car racing stable at Team Penske, a big-time player when it comes to IndyCar racing with 13 season championships and 16 Indy 500 victories.

The anticipation was if Pagenaud could do as well as he did earlier in his career, just how successful could he be when team owner Roger Penske got hold of him. However, heading into Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend, Pagenaud is largely a non-factor in the chase for a championship, sitting 10th with three races to go.

“It takes time to get a group to work together and get the success that you can get at his level of IndyCar,” he said. “If you look at Will Power in particular or (Helio) Castroneves, my teammates, they’ve been with the team a long time. And when I say team, I mean it’s the crew, it’s the strategist, it’s the driver, it’s everybody.

“It’s a very new environment. We have plenty of performance, and it’s just taking time.”

And when it comes to time, Pagenaud isn’t worrying about the timetables others may have for him with Penske.

“All I care about is we’re working well as a team,” he said. “We are building up a new team. Most of the people on my crew were not working together in the past or not even working at Penske before. It’s going to take its natural course. Everybody has to be patient, but when it will click it should be pretty good.”

His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya leads the points standings after winning this year’s Indianapolis 500. Power won last year’s championship and sits in fifth place, while perennial title contender Castroneves is fourth, 54 points away from Montoya.

Pagenaud insisted he isn’t feeling any pressure to perform on a team where performance is at the highest level.

“They treat me really well so it makes life easy,” he said. “I have their full support and they are not shy about telling me that so it makes me feel good. I can say my qualifying performance makes me feel good as well about how I do and how well I’m driving.”

“I don’t feel anything special about being the new guy. It’s just about learning their package, their setup, their philosophy and adapting to it. Yeah, maybe I didn’t think it would take so long, but I think the second half of the season is important to learn and should put us in a good situation for next season for sure.”

rmccurdy@gannett.com

419-521-7241

Twitter: @McMotorsport

If You Go

Who: Verizon IndyCar Series

What: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

When: Friday through Sunday

Where: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Race: 90 laps, Sunday at 2 p.m.

TV: CNBC, Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Support races: Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, USF2000, World Challenge

Tickets: $35 Friday and Saturday general admission, $50 Sunday general admission, $75 weekend general admission, $60 Sunday grandstand, $80 weekend grandstand, $30 paddock pass, $25 infield parking

More info: Mid-Ohio.com, IndyCar.com, 800-MID-OHIO.

— Rob McCurdy