James Hinchcliffe was a cog – albeit an important one – in Andretti Autosport’s big four-car machine. With a new multi-year deal in hand at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, the Canadian will make the transition from being part of Andretti’s driver collective to the tip of SPM’s arrow as he becomes a team leader for the first time in IndyCar.

The 27-year-old replaces the outgoing Simon Pagenaud, and with the Frenchman’s impressive record during his three years with SPM, Hinch will have a big pair of shoes to fill. He’s played the role of understudy at Newman/Haas Racing, grew into a race winner as one of Andretti’s primary drivers, and will now be expected to march the Honda-powered program forward without a mentor or big supporting cast to share the load. According to Hinch, it’s a responsibility he’s ready to accept.

“On a lot of levels, I’m very happy to be joining SPM, and for sure, it’s in a position where I’m leading the team now and picking up where Simon left off,” he told RACER. “It’s the right time for me to take the next step in my career, and both sides are looking for the same thing. It’s a big ask, and I’m equal parts excited and nervous. I’ve done it before back in Indy Lights, and that was at a much smaller scale, but it’s not something I’m entire​ly unfamiliar with.”

SPM sees a lot of similarities between Hinchcliffe (far left) and Pagenaud (far right). LAT photo.SPM general manager Rob Edwards echoed Hinch’s sentiments.

“That’s our viewpoint,” the Briton added. “He’s quite accomplished in his own right, he’s been in the series for a while now and, like Simon, he’d driven quite a bit of different machinery before he came into IndyCar, and he’s been good in everything he’s done. He’s had good teammates and done well against them, won some races, and when we looked at it, we felt it was the right time for him to step up and have that responsibility and be a leader for us. We see a lot of similarities between him and Simon.”

Hinch returns to SPM after driving for the team in Indy Lights in 2009, and knows most of the players involved with the program. With multiple suitors interested in his services, SPM offered the one thing that no other team could offer – stability. NHR closed down its IndyCar team at the end of Hinch’s rookie season, and ongoing sponsorship changes at Andretti meant the Toronto native was in jeopardy of losing his ride on a regular basis.

With his new SPM deal, Hinchcliffe knows he has a stable team and proven base to work from for the next couple of years.

‘”Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson have really but their weight behind me,” Hinch noted. “To have that stability is what builds success in this series, and knowing we’ll have continuity is what should help us take that next step forward together.”

Added Edwards: “I like to think we created an environment for Simon where he could focus entirely on driving and know the rest was being taken care by us, and that’s the same environment we’re welcoming James into. All he needs to do is drive and be a part of the team, and beyond that, there are no other concerns to have.”

•  Schmidt close to finalizing second driver, too

SPM will need to add an engineer to the program after Ben Bretzman departed with Pagenaud for Team Penske, and Edwards says it could come via a promotion or a new hire.

“It’s such a team effort these days; Ben was a great asset for us, but our engineering team is eight people, not just one, and we have a motivated group that want to step up and be a part of winning a championship with James,” he explained. “We have some great options in-house, and some other folks that have expressed an interest in joining our team, and we do have a need to fill Ben’s role, so that’s a priority for us, too. The good thing is everyone’s excited to have James here and that kind of camaraderie is what creates the chemistry you need to have success in our sport.”

In typical Hinchcliffe fashion, the beer aficionado arranged for his press conference to be held at a pub in Indianapolis, and says the casual approach to announcing his move to SPM was a better fit than a traditional press conference.

“Who doesn’t love beer, right?” he said with a laugh. “It’s our style and we always love doing things different. It’s probably a bit different than the usual IndyCar announcement. I love my job, I want to have fun, we invited the fans to come out and join us and who knows, maybe holding IndyCar press conferences at a brewery will become the new thing to do.”