Monday, January 12, 2009

ChampCar & IRL Rookie Moves On To 2nd T-Team

Mario Moraes - Indy 500, 2008-05-05 (Indianapolis Motor Speedway): Day two rookie orientation - Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

ChampCar & IRL Rookie Moves On To 2nd T-Team

The one thing that seems to be shaping up for the 2009 IRL season is that the transition teams (T-Teams) from ChampCar are bent on keeping their own in play.

Case in point, Mario Moraes jumps from one former ChampCar team, Dale Coyne Racing, to another … KV Racing Technology

Mario Moraes at Indy 500 raceday, 2008-05-25 (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) - Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

This edited and excerpted from autosport.com -

Moraes joins KV for 2009
By Matt Beer - autosport.com

KV Racing Technology have signed Mario Moraes for the 2009 IndyCar Series.

The 20-year-old Brazilian jumped straight from British Formula 3 to IndyCar with Dale Coyne Racing last year and made steady progress during his rookie season, taking a best result of seventh at Watkins Glen, although several other promising performances ended in accidents.

"We are very excited to have Mario join our team," said team co-owner Jimmy Vasser. "Mario is young and extremely talented. He impressed us with his performances on both ovals and road/street circuits last year.

"We look forward to watching him grow and are confident he will be very competitive during the 2009 season."

Moraes believes he will make great progress with KV.

"I want to thank (team owners) Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser for this opportunity," he said. "I think KV Racing Technology provides me with the best opportunity to develop as a driver and advance my racing career. I am really looking forward to working with the entire KVRT organization in 2009."

There had been question marks over KV's IndyCar future during the winter due to the loss of the Surfers Paradise race, which had been key to their main backer Craig Gore's involvement with the series.

Reference Here>>

It is not known at the time of this post where last years drivers for KV Racing Technology, Will Power and Oriol Servia, will be driving or if any will be resigned by KVRT or another IRL team for 2009.

UPDATE: Will Power set to sign an agreement to ride for Penske in Helio Castroneves's seat as Helio concentrates on his upcoming legal trials on his potential of evading the payment of taxes. News conference to announce this T-Team crossover event is set to be held in Indianapolis at 2:30 PM, local Indianapolis time.

... notes from The EDJE

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