By alley - Jun 23, 2017, 11:11 AM ET

Aleshin en route to Road America

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver Mikhail Aleshin could end up taking the wheel of his No. 7 Honda after all. The Russian, waylaid in Europe after an issue with his visa prevented leaving for this weekend's Verizon IndyCar Series race at Road America, Tweeted his departure problems had been solved and he was on the way to Wisconsin:

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The question remaining for Aleshin is whether he'll find visa issues upon arrival in the United States. In his absence,

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports hired Canadian ace Robert Wickens to pilot the No. 7

, and with the day of travel facing Aleshin, Wickens will likely spend Friday in the car, at minimum.

SPM team leader James Hinchcliffe, who counts Wickens as one of his best friends, was understandably enthused to have the former junior open-wheel standout and current Mercedes DTM driver under the same tent this weekend.

As part of a cross promotion earlier in the year, Hinchcliffe and Wickens traded cars, with Wickens sampling Hinchcliffe's No. 5 Honda at Sebring and Hinchcliffe trying the Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM at Vallelunga in Italy.

Given the chance to complete a race in IndyCar, there's every reason to believe Wickens would draw significant interest as a full-time option in the future.