Aleshin Excited to Be Back, Team Owner Schmidt to Drive SAM Car at Sonoma

Mikhail Aleshin returns to the Verizon IndyCar Series for the first time in nearly a year this weekend. The native of Moscow, who drove for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2014 with a best finish of second at the second race of the Houston doubleheader, sustained injuries in a post-qualifying practice crash for the season finale at Auto Club Speedway.

Aleshin has recovered and competed this year in the European Le Mans Series, but this weekend returns to the No. 77 SMP Racing Honda for the first time.

"It was a long journey to make it up here again; it was a long time for me to recover from the crash. I feel very good, better than last year," Aleshin said. "Obviously, it's difficult to come back at the end of the season and the track is difficult. The car is new (with the Honda aerodynamic bodywork road/street course package) and the race is long, but I will give 100 percent. I'm happy to be back with the team."

Aleshin said he's working on funding to return to the Verizon IndyCar Series full time in 2016. "I hope this race can be a significant step towards that goal," he said.

Meanwhile, team co-owner Sam Schmidt, a quadriplegic, will drive a demonstration lap in the Arrow SAM (semi-autonomous motorcar) car 2.0 on the Sonoma Raceway road course on race day. The SAM Project is an innovative one in which a 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray car has been modified with integrated advanced electronics and a human-to-machine interface so a qualified quadriplegic driver can operate the car.

Schmidt drove laps in the 2014 Corvette at the 2014 Indianapolis 500 and reached a top speed of 107 mph. He also drove a lap in April on the street circuit before the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.