Simon Pagenaud

Simon Pagenaud (born 18 May 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He currently drives the No. 22 Chevrolet for Team Penske in the IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class championship title in the 2010 American Le Mans Series, he moved to Formula Racing in the Indycar Series where he became the 2016 IndyCar champion and the 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner, becoming the first French driver to win the Indianapolis 500 since Gaston Chevrolet in 1920 and the first polesitter to have won the race since Helio Castroneves in 2009.

Early years
Born in Montmorillon, Pagenaud first worked at age 14 in the family's supermarket, eventually managing the video game department. After he attended business school, he returned to the supermarket. His family established a driving school that provided the funds for Pagenaud to begin his racing career.

Career
Pagenaud competed in 2002 and 2003 in French Formula Renault and in 2002 and 2004 competed in Formula Renault Eurocup. He then moved up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2005 where he finished 16th. In 2006 he went to the United States and won the Champ Car Atlantic with Team Australia in his rookie season by just a few points over Graham Rahal.

With his Atlantic championship, Pagenaud won US$2 million to apply towards a ride in Champ Car in 2007. On 13 February 2007 Pagenaud and Team Australia confirmed that he would be staying with the team, moving up to the Champ Car program. Pagenaud finished 8th in the points standings in what was a very consistent debut season, with three consecutive 4th-place finishes in the Canadian rounds of the championship.

After the demise of the Champ Car World Series, Pagenaud in 2008 moved to the American Le Mans Series co-driving the De Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b LMP2 with former CART champion Gil de Ferran. He finished 14th in the drivers standings.

2009
In 2009, Pagenaud and de Ferran Motorsports took huge steps forward, with the duo taking second place overall in the American Le Mans Series LMP1 class, only 17 points behind drivers David Brabham and Scott Sharp of champions Highcroft Racing. The duo of Pagenaud and de Ferran drove the ARX-01 to three wins over a total of ten races and three pole positions, turning the fastest lap of the ALMS weekend 6 times.

Also during 2009, Pagenaud drove in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP1 for the privateer Pescarolo Sport team in the Peugeot FAP 908. The team did not finish the race, completing 210 laps. The race was won by David Brabham, driving in the factory Peugeot Sport Total No. 9 FAP 908 along with former Formula One drivers Alexander Wurz and Marc Gené.

2010
For the 2010 ALMS season, Pagenaud moved over to the Patrón Highcroft racing team, replacing Scott Sharp to co-drive with Brabham in the ARX-01c in LMP1 after Sharp vacated the seat to jump to the ALMS GT2 class with his own Ferrari team. Through four rounds in the 2010 ALMS series, the team of Pagenaud and Brabham lead the LMP1 class with three wins and 91 points.

Pagenaud also earned a seat driving for the Peugeot factory team in 2010 in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans on the renown Circuit de la Sarthe in the Peugeot FAP 908 No. 3 with Pedro Lamy and Sébastien Bourdais.

While the No. 3 Peugeot started from pole, it retired early before nightfall after a mere 38 laps when a suspension mount sheared from the car's tub. The same fate eventually befell the no.1 Peugeot car of Anthony Davidson/Gene/Wurz while in second place with mere hours left to go in the race, as Audi reclaimed the 24 Hours of Le Mans title it had retained for five years prior to Peugeot's 2009 win.

During the race, Pagenaud found himself competing against his Highcroft Racing team which travelled to Le Mans for the first time in its history. With Brabham driving the Acura in LMP2 alongside Marino Franchitti and Marco Werner, Highcroft maintained second through most of the race until a cooling issue sidelined the car for much of the race's final four hours.

2014


He won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on 10 May. This was the first time his father watched him race at the venue.

2015
Pagenaud moved from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to Team Penske in 2015. Pagenaud nearly won the 2015 Indianapolis 500, leading with less than 30 laps to go and engaging most of the race in a 3-way battle between Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan. Pagenaud ended up being over-taken by the field and went on to finish 10th, while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya won the race. Pagenaud didn't win a race in 2015, but renewed his deal with TEAM Penske in 2016.

2016
Pagenaud got off to the best start of his IndyCar career with five consecutive podiums, including three wins in a row. As the season progressed, Pagenaud and his teammate Will Power became the primary contenders for the championship. With a strong run at the end of the season, Pagenaud took his first IndyCar Series championship victory, giving Team Penske another championship victory in its 50th year of racing. He finished the season with five race victories and a total of eight podiums.

2017–2019
Pagenaud would go winless throughout 2018. Pagenaud won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he would also win the 2019 Indianapolis 500 from pole position. Pagenaud took the championship lead from Team Penske team mate Josef Newgarden, however Newgarden would retake the championship lead one race later in Detroit. Pagenaud would take pole and the win at the 2019 Honda Indy Toronto and took pole at the 2019 Iowa 300, though the win would go to Newgarden. Pagenaud is currently 3rd in the points standings, one point behind Andretti Autosport driver, Alexander Rossi and 34 points behind points leader Newgarden.

2020
During the 2020 iRacing Indy 500 event, Pagenaud executed a premeditated and deliberate take out of leading driver Lando Norris causing great controversy and being accused of bad sportsmanship.

Career summary

 * Season still in progress.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series results
(key)

American open-wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

IndyCar Series
* Season still in progress.
 * 1 The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.

American Le Mans Series results

 * 1 Driver competed for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, no points awarded for the American Le Mans Series.

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
 * Season still in progress.

Le Mans Series results

 * 1 Driver competed for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, no points awarded for the Le Mans Series.

Intercontinental Le Mans Cup results

 * 1 Driver did not run for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

Complete V8 Supercar results
+ Not Eligible for points