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SPM, Calmels Indy 500 effort called off

Vegas Grand Prix Practice

LAS VEGAS - APRIL 07: Tristan Gommendy, driver of the #22 PKV Racing Panoz DP01, looks on during practice for the ChampCar World Series Vegas Grand Prix on April 7, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Darrell Ingham/Getty Images)

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The potential Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Calmels Sport Indianapolis 500 effort, which was meant to field Tristan Gommendy in the 2018 Indianapolis 500, will join the annals of “announced entries that never actually materialized beyond the press release.”

SPM confirmed the end of the partnership in a press release today.

In a statement, the team wrote: “Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Calmels Sport have mutually agreed to end their partnership of a 2018 Indianapolis 500 program. SPM will continue to focus on raising the level of performance of its involvement in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Both parties wish another well in the future.”

The initial partnership news was one of the more out-of-left-field entries in recent years and quickly gathered negative headlines once some digging was done regarding some of Didier Calmels’ past.

An announcement regarding SPM’s replacement third car entry for this year’s Indianapolis 500 with another partnership is known to many in the IndyCar paddock, and will be announced officially on Friday.

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