Simon Pagenaud sounds ready to drive anything in 2018 and beyond.
In addition to his regular job driving the No. 22 Team Penske Chevrolet in the Verizon IndyCar Series, the 2016 season champion has enjoyed being a part-time pilot for Roger Penske’s Acura sports car prototype team that will compete in this weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
But the 33-year-old Frenchman has expressed other racing aspirations for when his INDYCAR career has concluded.
“I’d probably do the Monte Carlo in rally,” Pagenaud said. “Rally is my passion. It’s something that when I retire (from INDYCAR), I want to do full time. That’s the form of racing to me that’s always been a dream of mine since I was a kid. (Fernando) Alonso wants to win Indy, Monaco and Le Mans. I want to win Indy, the INDYCAR championship, Le Mans and then the Monte Carlo rally. It’s different goals. But to me, it’s such a pure instinct driving. I’m very attracted to it. If I could, I would.”
He also mentioned being interested in driving a NASCAR stock car some day on an oval.
“Everybody wants me to be doing or saying that I would want to be on a road course in NASCAR, but I’m driving the best car in the world on the road course (in INDYCAR). Why? No. I’m happy with that,” Pagenaud said. “On an oval, it would be fun to see what it’s like because I only know what an Indy car feels like on an oval. I’ve never experienced anything else.”
And he’s intrigued by Supercars in Australia, too.
“I’ve done it, it’s very specific,” he said. “These drivers are very good at what they do. Just jumping in is very hard and there’s very little testing available for the coming drivers. Yeah, it’s fun. I’d love to do it. It’s a beautiful track in Bathurst, but it would require a lot of simulator testing to be up to speed. But why not? I love driving anything. Give me a steering wheel and four wheels and I’ll go for it.”
Not that Pagenaud is going to do anything that detracts from his commitment to the Verizon IndyCar Series. He finished second in the championship to teammate Josef Newgarden last season and has become one of the series’ top drivers with seven of his 11 career wins in the past two seasons.
His sports-car teammates for the Sebring endurance race include current INDYCAR regular Graham Rahal and past series race winners Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves. Pagenaud said driving a sports car will help him when he gets back into his Indy car.
“More time in the car and driving a different car is also an advantage because it refreshes my mind,” he explained. “When you drive your (same) car every day, you get used to your problems, you don’t feel it anymore. It’s a good thing to always reset to another reference.
“When I go back to an Indy car, I have a fresh mind and I see the weakness more and I’m able to help improve it better. I think it’s a good thing. It’s definitely important to keep the focus on the right things. I’m going to have to be very disciplined about that, but I’ve done it in the past and I just want to drive.”
Much like his fellow INDYCAR competitors, Pagenaud enjoys the new car, even if it is more challenging with less rear downforce. He finished 13th in the season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, on March 11.
“The car is a lot more sexy,” Pagenaud said of its look. “You get to see the rear tires again. They look huge, they look exciting. They seem like they go fast on the straightaway when you see them going by. The acceleration is better. There’s less drag.
“But also the driving is more difficult. It’s more (prone) to sliding, especially on the exit of the corners. In the high-speed corners, you feel the whole car sliding as well, so you have to drive it, whereas before it was stuck to the ground.”
Pagenaud’s St. Petersburg performance was hindered by a tire gun malfunction on his first pit stop. It dropped him to 18th place and made it difficult to recover.
“It's definitely not the start to the season that we wanted,” Pagenaud said, “but we know the Menards Chevrolet is good and we know we will bounce back strong."
The opportunity to bounce back comes at a track where Pagenaud is the defending winner. ISM Raceway hosts the Phoenix Grand Prix on Saturday, April 7, with live coverage on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network beginning at 9 p.m. ET.