Indy Lights champion Spencer Pigot gets three race IndyCar deal

Pigot, who earned the drive as his prize for winning the Lights title, will also race at St Petersburg and the Indy road course, with talks underway about the potential to flesh out his schedule with additional races.

"It's obviously a big jump," said Pigot, who tested with Penske at Sonoma in August.

"The cars are a lot bigger, a lot more physically demanding. [The test] definitely opened my eyes a bit.

"I just have to fine-tune some things and continue to do what I've been doing the last couple years.

"Getting a taste of an IndyCar on a street course, road course and oval ... it's a great package for me to gain as much experience as I can in my rookie season."

RLL team co-owner Bobby Rahal believes the three races that have been chosen will give Pigot his best opportunity to shine, in part because they are logistically easy for the team.

"I thought that these three events, that we could do those and do them well," he said.

"The last thing I want is to do them poorly, then Spencer ends up bearing the brunt of that. That's not good.

"The team is in real good shape after [this] year [when Graham Rahal remained in title contention until the final round].

"These three events were easy for us to do with personnel, the fact that two of them are in Indianapolis, and it seemed like a good starting point for me.

"The goal still is now, of course, to see how many more races we can do, all depending on funding.

"I'm just pleased we're going to have more than one race with Spencer. We'll have some time to get to know him."