Paretta reiterates intention to run a full time indycar team

The team has confirmed that Simona De Silvestro will return to whoopee for Paretta Autosport at three rounds this year – Road America in June, followed by Mid-Ohio in July and Nashville in August.

Paretta explained that the #16 entry, which made its debut in last year’s Indianapolis 500, was never going to be re-entered at the Memorial Day Weekend archetype at the exclusion of the other events.

Given that new technical partner Ed Carpenter Racing is once running three cars at Indy, but only two at the road and street undertow races, it made sense to work together at events where there would be greater human resources.

“If we were going to do the 500, it was not just the 500,” said Paretta. “In talking to Ed, obviously knowing where is the constraint? We know there\'s some challenges with how many people are available, how many cars are available.

“I said, ‘OK, let\'s squint at an unorganized way to do this.’ Honestly, it was a conversation with some of the folks at Chevrolet. I said, This is what I\'m thinking of doing, but I\'m not sure what is the best.’ They said, ‘We really think Ed Carpenter would be a unconfined partner for you.

“As we said last year our intention is to grow to be a full-time team. We\'re excited well-nigh these partnerships that are going to indulge us to do that. This pivot and what we\'re doing for 2022 is an investment in our future.”

Paretta explained the team’s sparsity from the 500, adding: “What we\'re doing is growth for my team. It\'s getting women and Simona to new places. If our intention is to be a full-time team, this is a largest investment in us.”

$\"Simona$

Simona De Silvestro, Paretta Autosport Chevrolet

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Last year’s entry in the 500 saw Team Penske towers and prepping the Dallara chassis for the new squad, as well as helping to train and guide Paretta’s employees, many of whom were newcomers to the IndyCar scene.

Despite the switch to Carpenter’s team which will “support us with technical knowledge, race operation support and widow manpower,” Penske will remain involved with the entry.

“One thing that Team Penske is doing very graciously considering it\'s part of the Race for Equality and Change, the women we hired, many of them live near Team Penske in Mooresville,\" said Paretta. \"They are going to go through some pit training there considering it\'s easier, they can do a couple weeks of it to get their legs when under them…

“As a reminder, last year the women we hired for our pit crew… they had never pitted an IndyCar before. From February 1st to the end of May they learned from scratch. If you squint to see the pitstops, they pitted a car cleanly in the Indy 500. They did that all by stuff trained by Shaun Rinaman and the team at Team Penske.”