SPM names Wickens replacement for final two races

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has named Carlos Munoz as Robert Wickens’ replacement for the final two races of this year’s Verizon IndyCar Series.

Munoz will drive the #6 Honda entry this weekend at the Grand Prix of Portland and a fortnight later at Sonoma after Wickens’ horror crash at Pocono earlier this month.

The Colombian’s only prior start this year came in one of Andretti Autosport’s one-off Indianapolis 500 entries, when he finished seventh.

“Robert and his family have been in my prayers and I continue to pray for his recovery,” said Munoz.

“I’m very grateful that Schmidt Peterson Motorsports have entrusted me to compete in the Lucas Oil Honda for the last two races of the season.

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“I am looking forward to pushing hard for a great result for the team and for Robert.”

SPM fielded only James Hinchcliffe’s #5 car during the most recent race at Gateway Motorsports Park.

In its most recent update prior to race start on Saturday night (local time), it advised that Wickens was breathing unassisted for the first time and speaking with family.

The Canadian has so far undergone surgery twice, the first to insert rods into his spine and the second to address injuries to his right arm and “lower extremities”, but the status of his spinal cord injuries remains uncertain.

Munoz has one IndyCar race win to his name at Detroit in 2015, splitting runner-up finishes in the Indy 500 in his rookie season of 2013 and again in 2016.

The 26-year-old drove for AJ Foyt Racing last year but was dropped when the team signed veteran Tony Kanaan and rookie Matheus Leist.

In other Portland news, Gabby Chaves will remain in the Harding Racing car after Conor Daly drove its #88 Chevrolet for the three races prior to Gateway, while Santino Ferrucci will drive a third Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the final two races of the season after debuting at Detroit.

There will be an open test at Portland on Thursday (local time) before the event proper begins on Friday and culminates with a 105-lap race on Sunday.

Entry list: Race 16, Portland International Raceway

Num	Driver	Nat	Engine	Team
1	Josef Newgarden	USA	Chevrolet	Team Penske
4	Matheus ‘Matt’ Leist (R)	BRA	Chevrolet	AJ Foyt Racing
5	James Hinchcliffe	CAN	Honda	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
6	Carlos Munoz	COL	Honda	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
9	Scott Dixon	NZL	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
10	Ed Jones	GBR	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
12	Will Power	AUS	Chevrolet	Team Penske
14	Tony Kanaan	BRA	Chevrolet	AJ Foyt Racing
15	Graham Rahal	USA	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	Sebastien Bourdais	FRA	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan
19	Pietro Fittipaldi (R)	BRA	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
20	Jordan King (R)	GBR	Chevrolet	Ed Carpenter Racing
21	Spencer Pigot	USA	Chevrolet	Ed Carpenter Racing
22	Simon Pagenaud	FRA	Chevrolet	Team Penske
23	Charlie Kimball	USA	Chevrolet	Carlin
26	Zach Veach (R)	USA	Honda	Andretti Autosport
27	Alexander Rossi	USA	Honda	Andretti Autosport
28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	USA	Honda	Andretti Autosport
30	Takuma Sato	JPN	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
32	Alfonso Celis Jnr (R)	MEX	Chevrolet	Juncos Racing
39	Santino Ferrucci (R)	USA	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
59	Max Chilton	GBR	Chevrolet	Carlin
60	Jack Harvey (R)	GBR	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing w/ Schmidt Peterson
88	Gabby Chaves	COL	Chevrolet	Harding Racing
98	Marco Andretti	USA	Honda	Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian