INDYCAR: Aleshin in doubt at SPM

Reached at his home in Russia, Aleshin offered a "no comment" regarding his return to SPM when contacted by RACER. A call to team co-owner Sam Schmidt was not immediately returned.

It's believed the 29-year-old is still a candidate for the seat alongside James Hinchcliffe, but with less than two months remaining until IndyCar opens its season at St. Petersburg, the pressure will be on to resolve the budgetary shortfall with Aleshin or find a new driver for the No.7 SPM Honda.

After rising up the European open-wheel ranks from 2003-'13, Aleshin broke into IndyCar with the SPM team in 2014 with backing from Russia's SMP Racing program. Road racing prowess was an expected part of Aleshin's offerings, but his immediate grasp of the ovals ranked among his most impressive attributes.

As a byproduct of finishing 16th in his rookie season, capped off with a strong second-place at the second Houston street race, Aleshin was expected to return in 2015 - after recovering from a near-fatal crash at Fontana - with SPM. Sanctions between the U.S. government and Russia, however, blocked any possibility of SMP making sponsorship payments to SPM.

With that blockage removed for 2016, Aleshin returned to the team for his sophomore season and earned four top-six finishes, along with another second-place result (at Pocono) on the way to 15th in the standings. Teammate Hinchcliffe finished 13th in the championship, highlighting the close proximity of their relative performances.

Aleshin turned to the FIA World Endurance Championship during his forced IndyCar hiatus in 2015. If a resolution is not found in time to rejoin SPM, the WEC or IMSA would be natural and less expensive options to consider.

With Aleshin's IndyCar future less than certain, the race to fill a coveted IndyCar seat would reinvigorate a silly season that appeared to be all but over by early December. Of the immediate names that come to mind, a number of young drivers with significant Indy Lights experience, including Jack Harvey and Zach Veach, could form part-time solutions for SPM based on the limited budgets they have to offer. 2015 Indy Lights champion Spencer Pigot, who raced part-time with Ed Carpenter Racing in 2016, is another obvious candidate if he is not resigned by ECR.