Forsythe and Dominguez split

The news follows hot on the heels of RuSPORT and AJ Allmendinger splitting up, and it is now thought to be only a matter of time before the American is confirmed as Dominguez's replacement at Forsythe.

In the official team press release, Dominguez stated: "My management and I have decided that it is in the best interest of my career to part ways with Forsythe Championship Racing.

"I was in a position where playing number two in the team was not what I wanted to do this early in the championship, so I believe what's best for my career is to go somewhere where I can be a leader.

"I will pursue other opportunities in another team in Champ Car, Formula One, NASCAR or the IRL. And I will always be grateful to Mr Forsythe for having given me the chance to drive for his team."

Neil Micklewright, VP of Team Operations at Forsythe stated: "Even though we are always a strong contender at every event that we go to, we know that we still have a lot of work to do to be able to beat the other leading contenders.

"We've been struggling with the development of our cars and our setups for some time because of very different driver setup references.  We believe that this restructuring of the team will be beneficial for us and will help put us back in the hunt for the Championship."

Dominguez finished ninth in the championship last year, and currently lies joint fourth in the title race, ironically tied with Allmendinger.

This is despite being penalised the seven points he scored at Milwaukee, following Champ Car Race Control's examination of an incident in which a mistake by Dominguez  sent both Bruno Junqueira (Newman/Haas) and Forsythe teammate Paul Tracy into the wall.

That was the second race in the first four rounds in which Dominguez had wiped out Tracy (and others), while at Houston, after scoring his first pole position of his Champ Car career, Mario missed his braking point while leading the race, handing victory to Sebastien Bourdais of Newman/Haas.

It is thought that Micklewright and team owner Jerry Forsythe had lost patience with him.

Dominguez would be an obvious candidate for Dale Coyne Racing, who are without a number one driver, following Cristiano da Matta taking over Allmendinger's seat at RuSPORT.  But Ronnie Bremer is thought to be in the frame too, following his excellent performances for the squad last season.