Brit Taylor to join Infiniti Pro Series

Taylor, who races for Manor Motorsport in F3, has signed a deal with champion IRL team Panther Racing, which is setting up a Pro Series junior squad for 2003.

"I needed to look further afield than tha usual way of going from F3 to Formula 3000," said Taylor. "The problem with F3000 is that F3 is at a higher level at the moment. We also looked at Toyota Atlantic in the States which is a good championship. I needed a link to the future, which is what signing for Panther has given me."

He has yet to test a Pro Series Dallara, but is confident that the new-for-2002 series and Panther is the right step.

"We went to the recent IRL and Infiniti Pro Series races at Michigan Superspeedway. It just blew my mind completely," said Taylor. "You never see racing like that in Formula 1. I'll be racing at an average speed of 180mph in Infiniti, and that will be such a thrill.

"I was very impressed with Panther and their results speak for themselves. Then we went to Indianapolis to see their outfit and it was absolutely amazing. You generally don't see anything like what they've got in England outside of F1."