March returns to Indy 500 with Smith

Indy Lights veteran Guy Smith was confirmed on Monday as the driver for the March Racing entry, prepared by Sinden Racing.

March won the Indy 500 a record five consecutive times in the 80s, but a March car has not taken part in a major international event since the early 90s. March founder Robin Herd has taken charge of the operation, and Stefan Johansson who has taken part in three Indy 500s will be the director of racing.

Herd was effusive in his enthusiasm for the team. "Now that the Sinden personnel will be on hand in the pit and March's engineering and technology in the cars, the expertise of the internationally famous driver Stefan Johansson will catapult March to the top of the competition," Herd said. "We are determined to build a top-notch racing team with the best drivers on the circuit."

Guy Smith almost secured a part time drive in CART last season, but was pipped to the post by Memo Gidley. This time, however, Smith's entry to top level international racing is confirmed, subject to a successful rookie orientation test at Indianapolis in May.

"Though young, Smith has already left his mark on this sport," Herd said. "With this new agreement, we will make sure his list of achievements will get many impressive additions."

The team has already announced a major sponsorship deal with Zoom2net.com. Following the Prost F1 team's deal with Yahoo! and Team Cheever's deal with Excite in the IRNL, the Zoom2net sponsorship marks an increasing amount of internet based sponsorship in top level motorsport.