South African Tomas Scheckter has secured the top drive he was looking for in next year’s Indy Racing League championship.
He will drive for the Target-sponsored Chip Ganassi team in a Toyota-engined G-Force chassis alongside New Zealander Scott Dixon. This is a big move for the 22-year-old South African, who impressed in his first season of IRL with the Red Bull Cheever Racing team, winning round 11 of the 15-race series at Michigan International Speedway in July and leading the Bombardier Rookie of the Year competition before splitting with the team.
The Target Ganassi team dominated the rival CART Champ Car series in the late nineties with four straight championship titles for American Jimmy Vasser (1996), Italian Alex Zanardi (1997 and 1998) and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya (1999).
Both Zanardi and Montoya went on to compete in Formula One, which is also Scheckter’s goal and would see him follow in the footsteps of his father Jody, world champion in 1979 in a Ferrari.
This year the Ganassi team contested both the CART and IRL series and in 2003 will concentrate on IRL.
Dixon competed for Ganassi in this year’s CART championship after becoming the youngest ever CART winner at Pennsylvania’s Nazareth oval last year at the age of 21. Scheckter, the first South African to compete in the Indy Racing League, came close to an historic first win on several occasions before finally breaking through at Michigan. He scored three pole positions (his first giving him the distinction of being the youngest ever pole winner in the history of the IRL) led five of his 12 races (including the famous Indianapolis 500 in May) and recorded fastest race lap on six occasions.
”We had a very successful test with Ganassi and the offer to join this great team is a dream come true for me,” said an elated Scheckter. ”It’s not been an easy first year in the IRL for me, but I learned a lot and despite everything that has happened I wanted to stay in IRL for another season. I can’t wait for the new season to start.” – Sapa