Roger Penske believes that Helio Castroneves has extended his racing career with his transition from full-time IndyCar competition to Team Penske’s Acura prototype program in next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The popular Brazilian’s long-anticipated switch was finally confirmed by the team on Wednesday, with Castroneves set for a full season in the Acura ARX-05, as well as appearances in a fourth Penske IndyCar at the Indy GP and Indianapolis 500.

Despite talk of Castroneves’ impending move having rippled through the paddock for more than a year, Penske said that the late confirmation of the deal was the result of the contract between the team and Acura needing to be finalized. It’s a move he says will ultimately benefit Castroneves himself.

“This gives Helio a longer future in his racing career,” said Penske. “He’s been with us as the longest-tenured driver, and I think the fact that he gets to go back to the Indy 500 again in 2018 and also will run in the road race the weekend before gives him the chance to stay with one foot in IndyCar, but also a chance to bring our Acura sports car team into championships hopefully as we go forward over the next however many years.”

Castroneves said that he views the change as an opportunity to build upon a legacy with Team Penske that includes 30 IndyCar wins and three Indianapolis 500 victories.

“I felt that this program, I felt with the family that I created inside the team with the professionalism, just for me, my career… it’s building to this,” he said.

“I’m excited, because not only are we going to start working with Honda again – obviously they gave me a lot of wins – [but] every time you have this perspective of looking forward to being competitive, looking forward to keeping driving. That’s what I love. Driving is my passion, it’s in my blood, and if this can continue moving forward and prolong my racing career, I’m all up for it. So I’m really, really excited for this new opportunity.”

Castroneves said he is also mindful of the symbolism of his moving out of full-time IndyCar just two weeks after his 26-year-old teammate Josef Newgarden won the championship, and acknowledged that the older guard eventually has to make way for fresh talent.

“The new era… you just had Josef Newgarden, a young American, winning the championship,” he said. “He’s probably going to be – if not already – a star, and [other] people are going to come up. It’s just the natural way that things happen. I was just fortunate to be in some place at the right time, but certainly I enjoyed the time. I took advantage of every moment and opportunity that I had during the series in any aspect, and I thank them for them to come on board, as well.

“Hopefully now we’ll go to the next chapter of my life, which I’m really excited because it’s the same racing but a little bit different. I definitely enjoy a challenge, and this is going to be a good one.”

Team Penske is already well into an internal reorganization to accommodate the two-car IMSA program, with some staff having been reassigned from the IndyCar side, and other members of its last sports car program having been brought back into the fold. Penske expects another 10-15 staff to be added before the season begins.

The one thing that Castroneves’ new program did not allow for was an IndyCar farewell tour. Penske said that something will be planned for next year’s Indy 500, but noted that the new chapter in Castroneves’ career should be viewed as a change, rather than a departure.

“We will have a celebration for Helio at the Indianapolis 500, where he has most of his fans, and he’s going to be around and people will see him,” said Penske.

“I guess it’s so hard to try to create the right environment when you don’t have the final decisions, and I think to say that he was not going to run in 2018 at the beginning of the year wouldn’t have been right because we didn’t have an answer. So a little bit of that has to do with timing.

“Obviously Helio is not getting out of the sport, not stopping driving like [Dale] Earnhardt [Jr.] and some of these other people have, Jeff Gordon. He’s going to be around, he’s going to be part of the Indy circuit at the biggest race in the world, and he’s also going to create a new fan base on the sports car side.

“I think that if you step back and look at the trajectory that he has from a business standpoint, from a career standpoint, from a racing standpoint, I think that we’ve placed him in a very good position, and I feel that I’ve certainly given him the chances that he needed. He’s produced the results and continues to, and that’s why we’re looking at this as a future opportunity for both of us.”