Brazilian Victor Carbone will return to Sam Schmidt Motorsports for his second season of Indy Lights in the team's No. 3 Nevoni/SSM entry. Carbone joins newcomers Oliver Webb and Tristan Vautier in the team.
Carbone, the 2010 U.S. F2000 champion, spent most of 2011 trying to find his footing, but improved later in the season with a podium result in Baltimore and both a pole and win in Las Vegas. He finished sixth in the final standings.
“I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to run with Sam Schmidt Motorsports one more year,” Carbone said. “I really had a steep learning curve last year, coming from F2000, so I will use everything I learned last year in 2012. I want to start the season where I left off, but I also know I still have much to learn. I will work very hard for it. I know how the team works, how the championship is, and how high the level of drivers is, so I'm really looking forward to next year.”
“As rewarding as it was to win the championship with Josef, it was an even greater sense of accomplishment for the team to see Victor's improvement throughout the season,” Schmidt said. “He came into the series with very little big-car experience and the step up from F2000 into Indy Lights was a big one. But he listened and worked extremely hard all season. We were very pleased and proud to see him in victory lane in Vegas after getting the pole position. With a full season of experience under his belt, I expect to see him battling at the front of every race in 2012.”
The trio looks to improve on SSM's impressive Indy Lights totals of five championships and 46 wins. The team may still add a fourth car as they ran in 2011.