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2 3 | Friday October 20, 2017 | OAKVILLE BEAVER |www.insidehalton.com Hinchcliffe re-signs as part of new Team Canada' A year after Jam es Hinchcliffe got his first go-kart as a birthday pres ent, Canadian Greg Moore joined Team Forsythe Racing. F o r the better part of a decade, Forsythe employed an all-Canadi an team, or at the very least two Canuck drivers on its team. Those drivers would serve as Hinchcliffe's inspiration as he dreamed of one day racing at the highest level. Though the drivers changed, the results were consistently great. From 1996 to 2 0 0 4 , Greg Moore, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy combined for 19 wins for Forsythe, including a driver's title for Tracy in 2003. Now Hinchcliffe hopes to repli cate that success as part of a new Canadian driving duo. The Oakville driver has re-signed with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM), the team he has been with for the past three years. And joining him for the 2018 IndyCar season will be Toronto native Robert Wickens. "I think for us it's pretty ex citing. Growing up as kids, we watched the Forsythe team sort of be the unofficial Team Canada of Champ Car," Hinchcliffe said Wednesday as Schmidt Peterson announced its IndyCar lineup. "Having two Canadian drivers on the same team, it just so happens to be the team that is co-owned by a Canadian (Calgary's Ric Peter son) as well, there's a lot of points of pride there." Hinchcliffe, whose contract ex pired at the end of the season, was the first part of the puzzle. Though he said other teams expressed in terest, he said there was no real desire to leave Schmidt Peterson. He wanted to continue what he started with the team, where he's earned two of his five career victo ries as well as six podium finishes. The 30-year-old believes a change to a common body for all cars will help the team be more competitive. "The last time we had a univer sal body kit, SPM was in the top five in the championship three years in a row," Hinchcliffe said. "I think that leveling the playing field a little bit gives us, as a team, better opportunities to close that gap and be competing at the front more regularly." The team then set its focus on finding a replacement for Hinchcliffe's former teammate, Mikhail Aleshin, who had just two podium finishes in 4 7 starts for SPM. Hinchcliffe has known W ickens since their karting days, though they took different roads as driv ers. W ickens spent the last six years racing touring cars for Mer cedes in the German-based Duetsche Tourenwagen Masters. W ickens impressed the Schmidt Peterson team when he filled in for Aleshin for a practice session last year at Road America when the Russian driver ran into visa prob lems that prevented him from get ting behind the wheel. " Jam es had a little bit to do with it, but I think it was just really the underlying factor here is looking for two quality drivers that can get the job done at this level of com petition," said team co-ow ner Sam Schmidt. "I think we have that." Wickens posted at least one win on the German circuit in each of the last five years, finishing as high as fourth in the driver standings in 2016. "I didn't want people to think that I was just going around trying to get my buddy a ride," Hinchcliffe said. "I wanted the best, most qualified, most capable driver in the 7 car. W hen we all sat down around a table and wrote out the pros and cons of all available driv ers, Robby's name came to the top anyway." -- Herb Garbutt Oakville Sports Hall of Fam e m em bership increases byfive The Oakville Sports Hall of Fame will add five members to the exclusive club at its 10th Gala Induction Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 26. Olympic gold medal paddler Adam van Koeverden, lacrosse great Dan Dawson, builders Rob MacDougall (lacrosse) and Bob Labbett (OSHOF) and Home Court Bas ketball co-founder and national basketball team member Carol Hamilton-Goodale will join 41 other members of the OSHOF. Hamilton-Goodale is being hon oured posthumously. The event will be held at the Oakville Conference Centre starting at 6 p.m. with a meetthe-inductees reception fol lowed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets, at $ 1 1 0 each or $ 8 0 0 for a table of eight, are available by emailing info@oshof.com. OSHOF was founded to pro Olympic gold-medal paddler Adam van Koeverden is one vide a place that will serve as of five athletes/builders who will be inducted into the a site of homage for Oakville' s Oakville Sports Hall of Fame next Thursday. outstanding athletes, builders | File photo by Graham Paine and founders who have distin - Oakville Beaver guished themselves through their contributions to sports. Also, OSHOF will provide financial assistance to Oakville athletes through scholarship grants. Funds raised by the dinner will sustain the hall of fame and support its scholarship, bursary and athletic assistance program. M o re C ontent, M o re Credibility, M o re C ustom ers. Contact us today and Get YOUR BUSINESS FOUND ! 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