Sam Schmidt has described the decision to drop James Hinchcliffe from the Arrow McLaren Racing SP team for the 2020 NTT IndyCar season as 'gut-wrenching'.
It was announced on Wednesday that Hinchcliffe would no longer be racing for the team with which he has spent the past five seasons, in favour of the two previous Indy Lights champions, Patricio O'Ward and Oliver Askew.
Initially it was said Hinchcliffe – who would have been in the final year of his contract for the 2020 campaign – would race with the soon to be Chevrolet-powered team, despite having a personal deal with Honda.
However, the team's decision had appeared to change to move toward a more youthful line-up.
Schmidt admits he felt the opportunity to sign two young drivers was too good to pass up given the team's long-term ambitions of future success, however, he is supportive and confident the Canadian will be able to find a full-time seat for the new season.
"I think Ric [Peterson] and I would say that this is one of the toughest decisions we have had to make since we have been team owners, because I personally have known James, (father) Jeremy, (mother) Arlene, his brother Chris for 11 years and love him," said Schmidt.
"And I really appreciate what he's done for the team, tremendous, tremendous investor in the sport and our brand and everything else.
"So it's a gut-wrenching decision, but we were faced with an opportunity to pick up these two young guns coming out of Indy Lights that already have 13, 14, 15 years worth of experience and it was just an opportunity that we couldn't pass up.
"So everything's amicable, I have all the faith in the world that James is going to wind up in a full-time ride and Ric and I are fully supportive of that.
"So it's just a competitive environment and for our partners and everything else that we're — everybody, it was a group decision, we got an opportunity in front of us, we got to take it, we want to go win races."
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