Photo: Jim Haines/INDYCAR

Jack Harvey to End 2017 Racing for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer

Jack Harvey couldn’t catch a break. After losing two tiebreakers in the 2014 Indy Lights points standings and losing the 2015 Indy Lights championship in the final two races, the 2012 British Formula 3 champion didn’t have a Verizon IndyCar Series drive for 2016 or 2017 until this year’s Indianapolis 500.

However, that situation has changed for Harvey as he has picked up the seat in the No. 7 Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports at Watkins Glen International and at Sonoma Raceway to close out the 2017 IndyCar season.

Harvey will be one of two replacements for departing Mikhail Aleshin who will be focusing on improving the SMP Racing LMP1 sports car. The other replacement is Sebastian Saavedra who took over at Pocono and at Gateway.

“It’s obviously a really exciting time for me and I’m really pleased to rejoin everyone here at SPM,” Harvey said, via a team release. “We had a lot of success together in Indy Lights and I’m excited to be back with so many familiar faces.”

Harvey’s two years in Indy Lights were spent with SPM and he racked up six victories and seven runner-up finishes out of 30 races. Remarkably, Harvey has only four finishes in 30 races outside the top five with one finish outside the top ten.

“I’m really looking forward to getting on track at Watkins Glen and, although I haven’t driven there, it’s definitely been a bucket list track and one that I’ve been looking forward to driving on even before I came to America,” Harvey said.

Before coming to America, Harvey ran in Formula BMW Europe before moving up to British F3 and then GP3 in 2013, racing against the likes of Conor Daly, Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Dean Stoneman.

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A 2012 graduate of LSU, Christopher DeHarde primarily focuses on the NTT IndyCar Series and the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. DeHarde has actively covered motorsports since 2014.