Pagenaud: "With Will there is respect"

Last year saw headlines roaring with the exploits of the Simon Pagenaud vs. Will Power rivalry. It wasn't the sports biggest rivalry ever, but when two former team mates are making contact on track, it makes for an even more interesting story.

But now, with the signing of Pagenaud to a fourth car under the Penske rooftop, the fast Frechman is teamed up his Australian rival.

I am not going to tell you it won’t be competitive, it will be massively competitive.

Simon Pagenaud

"Will and I go way back, and we have a lot of respect for each other before anything else," Pagenaud told Motorsport.com.

"We had contact last year, but it's because we were both running up front.  You are going to meet the same guy on the racetrack. Will is a hard racer, and so am I. We cleared things up. We sat down, we are team mates now."

Let them race

Team Penske has been known for its inner team rivalries, the most famous of which was the constant battles between Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves. Pagenaud said that the team puts a lot of emphasis on developing the cars to make the best they can be, but once that is done Penske drivers are allowed to race it out on track.

"The advantage at Team Penske is they let us race, that is certainly a big advantage on a team like this when you have the chance to race your teammate as hard as you can race anyone," Pagenaud said. 

"I am not going to tell you it won’t be competitive, it will be massively competitive, I am looking forward to the challenge....We will go though the problems if there are problems, but I don’t think there should be any."