Meyer Shank Racing are forming an Indianapolis 500-winning super team for 2022, as 2019 Indy 500 winner and 2016 IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud joins the team to pilot the number 60 car in place of the departing Jack Harvey.
The Frenchman joins the team after seven seasons with Team Penske, marking the first season in the team’s five-year history that they will run multiple cars for the full season. This meteoric rise was aided by Pagenaud’s not-so-new teammate Helio Castroneves, who won the 2021 Indianapolis 500.
“Next year will be a big year for MSR and I think we have a very strong lineup of drivers between Simon and Helio,” said Team Owner Mike Shank.
“We have built this program every year, growing with our partners and working to have all the ingredients we need to be competitive. Our Indianapolis 500 win was a big breakthrough, and we are looking forward to having a consistently competitive program that will have the chance to fight for wins and podiums no matter where we go and I think this lineup will help us do that.”
Castroneves and Pagenaud create one of the most experienced team lineups on the grid, with 61 pole positions, 40 wins and 121 podiums between them. The two also have great chemistry already, having spent five full seasons and six Indianapolis 500s as teammates at Penske from 2015 to 2020.
“This is such an exciting time in my career,” Pagenaud said.
“MSR has proven it is a high-quality organization when they won the Indianapolis 500 and pairing Helio and me together will help our team in 2022 and beyond. I’m really looking forward to this new challenge.”
Pagenaud’s IndyCar career began in 2011 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing before moving to Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports, now known as Arrow McLaren SP, in 2012 where he was named Rookie of the Year. He moved to Penske in 2015 after three seasons with Schmidt, collecting his lone series championship and his Borg Warner Trophy in the process.
Pagenaud is also an experienced sports car driver, another discipline where MSR competes. His highlights include having finished second in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2021 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, as well as third in the 2017 and 2020 Petit Le Mans events.
Sources have also confirmed that Norman, Pagenaud’s tech-savvy Jack Russel Terrier, will also be making the move to MSR.
