Buddy Rice will drive for A1 Team USA in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 2007-08 season opener Sunday at Zandvoort, a 2.6-mile, 11-turn circuit on the Dutch coast.
It will be the first A1GP race for Rice, who has tested for a total of 2 ½ days at Silverstone in the Lola-Zytek mandated by the series.
"We've developed some good, reliable information on what the 'We The People' car likes in our tests and the challenge we face at Zandvoort is finding the optimum performance during a race weekend," Rice said. "I haven't raced there before, but we have a strong engineering staff with experience in A1GP and at Zandvoort and that will be a short cut to my learning curve.
"There is very tough competition in A1GP. I've been impressed by the drivers in our tests and some of them have raced at Zandvoort before. We'll have to bring our A game and I'm confident we will."
Rice, of Phoenix, Ariz., will become the first Indianapolis 500 champion to race in A1GP. He's a veteran of the IRL IndyCar Series and finished ninth in the championship this season. The 31-year-old won the Toyota Atlantic championship in 2000.
Driving for A1 Team USA will be Rice's inaugural campaign in a global series. There are 11 events on the A1GP 2007-08 schedule.
"I'm very excited to have this opportunity to drive for A1 Team USA and represent my country in the World Cup of Motorsport," Rice said. "It is an honor and carries a new type of responsibility. You always want to do well for your team and yourself and, now in A1GP, for my country."
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| A1 Team USA | |
|---|---|
| 24 Feb '09 | Andretti still learning new car |
| 26 Jan '09 | USA penalised in Feature race |
| 21 Jan '09 | Andretti to race for Team USA |
| 4 Nov '08 | Andretti to race in China for Team USA |
| A1GP: Netherlands 2007-2008 | |
| 30 Sep '07 | Jarvis excited with strong start of the season |
| 30 Sep '07 | Strong start to season for Ireland |
| 30 Sep '07 | Janis: 'It wasn't my fault' |
| 30 Sep '07 | Jarvis wins Dutch Grand Prix! |
| Buddy Rice | |
| 1 Oct '11 | Rice to return with Panther Racing |
| 8 Sep '11 | Rice to return for final two races |
| 29 Apr '11 | Former winner Rice returns to Indy 500 |
| 26 Sep '07 | Rice confident for Zandvoort |
| A1GP | |
| 27 Apr '12 | A1GP set for revival |
| 30 Apr '10 | Carroll to join Andretti in second half of season |
| 22 Mar '10 | Doornbos and Karthikeyan confirmed in Superleague |
| 18 Mar '10 | Indian Sureshwaren signs for first F2 season |
| Buddy Rice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Buddy Rice photos | |||
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