MADISON, Ill. — The fact that four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves has re-signed with Meyer-Shank Racing is not a surprise.
Team owner Michael Shank told SPEED SPORT on June 21 that an agreement was in place and a deal with being finalized.
The fact that the deal was finally announced on Aug. 19 is the biggest surprise, as it took eight weeks to line up the sponsorship agreement and get all the partners on board. Finally, on Friday, the team issued an official release indicating the popular driver from Brazil would return to drive the No. 06 Honda.
“Keeping Helio onboard wasn’t really a question for us,” team owner Shank said. “We’ve built a really strong relationship with him over these last two race seasons. He brings so much to the table, on and off the track. He’s been able to help us grow as a team, and we’ve been able to learn from his years of experience. It’s truly a mutually beneficial relationship.
“And, of course, he’s a perfect face of the sport and has such an infectious personality, so to have him on our team is an honor.”
Castroneves first joined MSR for a six-race campaign in the 2021 IndyCar season.
The first race of the season for MSR and Castroneves as a team — the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500 — exceeded all expectations as Castroneves raced to a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory exactly 12 years after his previous 500 win in 2009.
The win was also the first-ever IndyCar series victory for MSR with the Ohio-based team having made its series debut in 2017.
“I’m so excited that myself and Meyer Shank Racing have renewed for 2023,” Castroneves said. “I’m super optimistic for an amazing season because of everything that we have built this season — all the positive data and positive energy. I can’t thank Mike and Jim enough and of course all of our partners. There is no question that we are all super excited to continue this amazing partnership.
“Simon (Pagenaud) and I are going to do everything we can to finish this season strong, and then have a good start to 2023 and some even better results.”
The 2021 Indianapolis 500 was MSR’s 38th NTT IndyCar Series entry after the team ran a six-race program in 2018 and ten races in 2020. The team went on to compete full time in 2020 and expanded in 2021 to one full-time entry and the partial season campaign with Castroneves.
To date, Castroneves has 31 victories and 50 IndyCar pole positions on his resume — putting him in IndyCar’s top ten in history for most victories and pole positions. The 2023 IndyCar season will see Castroneves once again attempt to be the first driver in IndyCar history to claim a fifth Indianapolis 500 victory.
“When you start a company, I learned a little bit with Roger Penske in the place, sometimes you’re making a dealership, first year you lose money,” Castroneves said. “It’s pretty much like this in the racing team.
“Sometimes you put a team together, even the team has experience or sharing information with another group, it takes time to follow the process, to put everything in place. Some people coming and going. So, it takes time. You just got to trust the process. I’m confident that we will get our deserved result. And hopefully this weekend we’ll break through.
“We know what we learned, we understand each other that we have the same goals, which is winning obviously. We’re passionate about this sport. The result of the Daytona 24 Hour this year, I knew the car very well. Simon also be part of Team Penske, a third driver, understood the car very well. And Tom and Oliver, even that they are getting there, were able to connect extremely well and able to execute.
“Because of that, we knew there was progress. Today IMSA and Meyer Shank Racing is challenging for the championship. Hopefully I’ll be able to be there to help them out and get this championship.
“That showed that IndyCar, we able to do that. But when you are building a two-car team, this is the first time we have it, it takes time, it takes a process, understanding each other. We are working extremely hard.
“We feel these last three races we going to finish on a high note and get the result that we deserve because the team has worked very, very hard, not only from the 06 car, but also from the 60 car (driven by Simon Pagenaud). We feel we going to get reward from that.”