Toronto veteran Sebastian Saavedra has been called up to replace Mikhail Aleshin in the No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda this weekend, a surprise driver change ahead of this weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, CNBC).
In a statement, the team said Aleshin would be on site for support but would not provide any further comment at this time. The No. 7 Lucas Oil SPM Honda will also feature AFS Racing branding and support, owing to Saavedra’s longtime supporter Gary Peterson.
“We welcome the opportunity to compete with Ric and Sam at a venue where Seb and I have had great success in the past,” Peterson said in the statement.
Aleshin was delayed getting to the last road course race at Road America last month owing to immigration issues, and Robert Wickens filled in for him in the Friday practice sessions. But Aleshin’s return occurred as of Saturday morning for that race, and for Iowa Speedway last weekend.
Saavedra, meanwhile, has one prior start this year with Juncos Racing in partnership with AFS at the Indianapolis 500. He’s also worked with the No. 7 car’s engineer, Blair Perschbacher, previously in his IndyCar career.
At Toronto, Saavedra has six past IndyCar starts from 2011 through 2015, with Conquest Racing, Dragon Racing, KV/AFS Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. His best finish is 15th in Toronto race two, 2013.
Saavedra also has three starts there in Indy Lights competition. He won from pole for AFS/Andretti Autosport in 2009 and finished second with the same team in 2012.
SPM joins Bryan Herta Autosport, Conquest, Andretti, Dragon, KV, Ganassi and Juncos as teams Saavedra, who’s still only 27, has driven with in his career.
Interestingly, Wickens was available as there’s no DTM race this weekend and the Guelph, Ontario native was home - posting training video from a lake in Muskoka on Wednesday on his Instagram page.
Keen-eyed observers will have noticed Aleshin’s car having switched from the full SMP Racing red, white and blue livery in the past, to a red and black Lucas Oil and ARROW livery this year for Aleshin’s car.