Grid boost likely for Mexico City

Eric Jensen, who runs a three-car Atlantic team has declared himself '90 percent certain' to run a Champ Car in the season finale, having been loaned PKV Racing's spare chassis.

The Canadian, who also ran a similar one-off entry at Long Beach in 2005, said: "The only slight doubt that remains is covering the operational costs. We did have an agreement with a sponsor back in July to do this, and we were going to run the final two races, but the cancellation of the Phoenix race jeopardised that."

Jensen confirmed that he is not looking for a pay-driver, and that favourites for the seat are Ryan Dalziel who was recently released by Pacific Coast Motorsports and Franck Perera who finished runner-up in the Atlantic Championhip.

He said: "I don't want someone who's going to crash, and Franck didn't crash once in Atlantics this year and is clearly very, very talented. And Ryan now has an almost complete season of experience in the DP01 and is also clearly talented."

A third contender has emerged too, in Oriol Servia. Jensen has confirmed he has been in contact with the Catalan with whom he raced in Indy Lights back in 1998.

Servia currently holds sixth place in the Champ Car championship table, despite not competing at the season-opener in Las Vegas. However, he has been replaced at Forsythe Championship Racing by David Martinez for the final two rounds, and is likely to drop out of the top 10 if he fails to start in both Surfers Paradise and Mexico City.