American Honda and its Honda Performance Development (HPD) subsidiary will power Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, HPD and the team announced today. Under terms of the agreement, HPD will provide its new, turbocharged 2.2-liter Honda Indy V6 engines to all Schmidt entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series and at the Indianapolis 500.
“Following a decade of achievements – and four championships – in Indy Lights, Sam Schmidt Motorsports has logged additional impressive results since the team's return to full-time IndyCar competition this year.” said Erik Berkman, president of HPD and vp corporate planning and logistics for American Honda. “We believe that Sam, team manager Rob Edwards and the rest of the Sam Schmidt Motorsports team have established a solid foundation for future success. We look forward to working with them to achieve our joint goals of race wins and IndyCar Series championships.”
Designed at HPD's Santa Clarita, California, facility, the all-new Honda Indy V-6 engine is now under development, with initial track testing scheduled to begin this month.
SSM is the third team to align with Honda for 2012. In May, Honda announced that Chip Ganassi Racing would be its anchor team beginning next year. Earlier this month, A.J. Foyt Racing became the second team to adopt Honda power for 2012.
“Honda's success both on and off the track is unmatched,” said Schmidt. “I believe its total commitment to performance, reliability and integrity as a company is perfectly aligned with the goals of Sam Schmidt Motorsports and its partners. We look forward to what we hope will be a long and very productive relationship.”
“I have raced with Honda and against Honda, and I would always wish to race with them. Racing is part of Honda's DNA,” noted Edwards. “We look forward to working with the other Honda-powered teams to develop the 2012 IndyCar package and continue Honda's winning heritage.”