Aleshin rejoins SMP Racing for remainder of WEC season

Mikhail Aleshin

Verizon IndyCar Series driver Mikhail Aleshin will return to the FIA World Endurance Championship for the remainder of the season with SMP Racing.

Aleshin made his IndyCar debut in 2014 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports before moving into the WEC with SMP Racing for 2015.

The Russian driver returned to IndyCar for 2016 once again with Sam Schmidt’s team, finishing the year 15th in the drivers’ standings with a best finish of second at Pocono.

Aleshin will now draft back in to the SMP Racing No. 27 BR Engineering Nissan for the remaining three races of the season in Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain.

Aleshin previously teamed up with Maurizio Mediani and Nicolas Minassian at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for SMP Racing, finishing seventh in the LMP2 class. Mediani and Minassian have raced as a two-man team for the past three WEC rounds.

“I am happy to be back behind the wheel of the Russian BR01 prototype," Aleshin said.

“The car is our baby that we’ve helped raise since 2014 and I’ll continue this work.

“There are still three races left this season, for which we’ll try to deliver strong results for the fans."

The 6 Hours of Fuji takes place on October 16. Luke Smith/NBC Sports