Saavedra In, Aleshin Out for Toronto

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

Sebastian Saavedra returns to the Verizon IndyCar Series to pilot the No. 7 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto.

Mikhail Aleshin, the usual full-time driver of the entry, will sit on the sidelines but be on hand for “support” according to a team release.

Gary Peterson, owner and longtime supporter of Saavedra, will have his AFS Racing branding joining the No. 7 Lucas Oil SPM Honda. The move also reunites the Colombian with former Indy Lights race engineer Blair Perschbacher.

Saavedra only other outing this season was in the 101^st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil in May with Juncos Racing, finishing 15^th.

The team has remained quiet as to why the change is happening, but the season hasn’t been the smoothest for Aleshin.

The Russian sits 16^th in the standings and has yet to post a top five finish this season. Two race weekends ago at Road America, DTM driver and Canadian Robert Wickens enjoyed a Friday behind the wheel of the No. 7 after it was learned that Aleshin had immigration issues. However, he returned for Saturday and Sunday duties. Aleshin also crashed out from fourth position last weekend at Iowa.