INDYCAR: Peterson, AFS to field Saavedra

Gary Peterson, the car owner whose loyalty has kept Sebastian Saavedra in IndyCar racing on and off for the past several years, is bringing the 25-year-old Colombian back to Indianapolis next month.

But instead of partnering with Andretti Autosport or Target Chip Ganassi Racing as he has in the past, Peterson's AFS Racing will field its own car.

RACER.com confirmed with Peterson on Sunday evening he was, indeed, returning to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the sixth time with Saavedra. The Chevy-powered Dallara that Saavedra will drive has been housed and updated at Ganassi's shop.

And Peterson's news will bring the entries for the 100th Indianapolis 500 to 34, with Gabby Chaves or Katherine Legge still a possibility for a ride.

"I'm entered as AFS Racing and Ganassi is not running my car," Peterson said in an email. "They can't do it with a shortage of crew in the series and with the addition of Ford GT sportscar program. Chip and Mike [Hull] were so good to me last season and we have a great friendship. But it will be an AFS entry and have a great engineer and acting team manager who have all worked together which we will announce later."

Saavedra, whose had 61 IndyCar starts since 2010, shared Ganassi's fourth car with Sage Karam last season and only made five starts after running full-time for KV Racing in 2014 – where he captured the pole position for the inaugural Angie's List Grand Prix at IMS. 

Peterson brought him into Indy Lights in 2009, where he posted four wins in three seasons. Saavedra made his IndyCar Series debut for Bryan Herta in the 2010 Indianapolis 500 and drove for Conquest Racing in 2011. AFS Racing and Saavedra's first IndyCar partnership was with Andretti Autosport for the 2012 Indy 500.

INDIANAPOLIS 500 ENTRY LIST

CHEVROLET TEAMS

Penske – Power, Pagenaud, Montoya, Castroneves

Ganassi – Dixon, Kanaan, Kimball, Chilton

KVSH – Bourdais, Brabham, S. Wilson

ECR – Newgarden, Carpenter, Hildebrand

Dreyer & Reinbold – Karam

AFS – Saavedra

Lazier – Lazier

HONDA TEAMS

Andretti – Hunter-Reay, Andretti, Munoz, Rossi, Bell

RLL – Rahal, Pigot

A.J. Foyt – Sato, Hawksworth, Tagliani

Coyne – Daly, Fillipi, Clauson, Mann

SPM – Hinchcliffe, Aleshin, Servia

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