JANUARY 31, 2005

Da Matta to join PKV tomorrow

Cristiano da Matta, the former Toyota F1 driver, will be named as the second driver of Kevin Kalkhoven's PKV Racing tomorrow alongside veteran Jimmy Vasser. The team is supposed to be running a three-car operation but the latest rumours from the US are that the new general manager Jim McGee has decided against that course of action and so the others who had been hoping for the ride will now have to look elsewhere. The list includes Ryan Hunter-Reay, Bjorn Wirdheim and Ryan Dalziel.

Da Matta was the CART Champion in 2002 with Newman Haas Racing but could not go back to his old team because there was no sponsorship available to run an extra car.

This means that the drivers looking for competitive seats in Champ Car must now focus on the third (and perhaps fourth) seats at Forsythe Championship Racing, on the second seat at HVM and the second seat at Rocketsport