OCTOBER 5, 2001

Mears to replace Zanardi

CASEY MEARS, the nephew of multiple CART champion Rick Mears, has been named as the replacement for Alex Zanardi by Mo Nunn Racing. The 23-year-old from California is believed to have been picked ahead of a number of other candidates which are believed to have included Ricardo Zonta, the Jordan test driver.

Zonta was passed over when the Silverstone team decided to replace Heinz-Harald Frentzen with Jean Alesi and there is little doubt that he has now concluded that it is time to find work in CART as the opportunities in F1 are few and far between.

He is expected to join two other Brazilians who are looking for work: Bruno Junqueira, who is to be released by Target Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of this season and, rumor has it, Luciano Burti.