MARCH 31, 2006

Pizzonia lands a Champ Car drive

Antonio Pizzonia will race for the Rocketsports team in the Champ Car World Series this year. The former Williams test driver headed to the United States this year after being unable to find a decent job in F1 and has been looking for a deal to give him the chance to challenge for the title - which will not be easy given the competitiveness of Newman-Haas Racing, RuSport, Forsythe and PKV Racing,

The 25-year-old Brazilian signed a long-term deal with Williams in 2001 but was released from that deal at the end of 2002 to race for Jaguar. The relationship was not a success and Pizzonia was dropped in mid 2003 but fought back to become a Williams test driver again in 2004 and raced for the team on several occasions in 2004 and 2005 when the regular drivers were injured.