Wiggins plans to revive HVM Racing

Wiggins's partner Paul Stoddart has pulled his backing, and the Minardi name, out of the team after deciding not to enter the IndyCar Series in 2008. But Wiggins still hopes to make it onto the grid for the first round and has bought the car that Walker Racing planned to campaign before they were forced to pull out last week.

A long-time Champ Car entrant, Wiggins has yet to finalise his plans or secure a driver and admits time is running out ahead of the 2008 season-opener at Homestead Miami on March 29.

"I know we're going to go in here and get our butt kicked for a while, but I believe we'll make good progress," he told the Sports Illustrated website.

"It's a tough deal and a lot of scrambling because of the timing, but the bigger picture is the significance of what happened. There's always fallout and some inconvenience but it's for a common goal.

"I won't deny that it's going to be a struggle, but we're doing our best to get one car on the grid for the first race."

Wiggins believes that the unification of North America's open-wheel racing will bring the series back to its previous strength.

"Now there's a future," he said. "In the past, let's be blunt about it, we had to find wealthy backers to fund the team. I'd like to think that in a year or two, we can get back to the environment in which we spent 20 years running on sponsorship.

"There is an opportunity for that to happen again and I decided that we should be part of it."