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Ganassi signs Alex Lloyd

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Alex Lloyd

Chip Ganassi Racing announced today the addition of young driving standout and 2007 Indy Pro Series Champion, Alex Lloyd to the team’s Driver Development Program. Lloyd, a native of Manchester, England joins the team after a record setting Indy Pro Series season that saw him dominate the field with eight wins and five poles positions.

The team is in the developing process of the complete 2008 plan for Lloyd but it most likely it will include some combination of IndyCar Series races, Grand Am races and a great deal of testing

In August 2007, with permission from his Indy Pro Series team, Sam Schmidt Motorsport, the Target IndyCar team invited Lloyd to participate in a team test at Sebring International Raceway with IndyCar driver Scott Dixon. Lloyd was given the opportunity to get behind the wheel of an IndyCar for the first time and was able to set lap times that were comparable to Dixon’s.

The team was so impressed by the 22 year-old driver’s abilities that when the opportunity arose for a driver to join the Rolex Grand Am Sportscar race at Infineon Raceway in August, it was Lloyd that was called upon once more.

“Alex has not only proved himself this season in the Indy Pro Series races but we were also able to evaluate him first hand at our test in Sebring and subsequently liked him even more," said Target Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull. “He is a talented driver and a perfect candidate for our development program. In the span of ten days, he took the wheel of two very different race cars for the first time. He showed at Sebring that he is ready to race an Indycar, and then at Infineon Raceway for the Grand Am event, proved under race conditions, that his skills were immediately equal to the best drivers in the very competitive high horsepower Daytona Prototypes."

I am thrilled to be racing for Target Chip Ganassi Racing and would like to thank Chip and his team for giving me this opportunity," said Lloyd. “I have always regarded the team as one of the best in all of motorsport and for me to now be a part of that is very exciting and a dream come true. I am looking forward very much to working with Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon. These are two of the top guys in the series and I know I can learn a lot from them."