Fisher happy to hand car to Rahal

Rahal revealed last night that he had secured a two-round deal with Sarah Fisher Racing, having been searching for a new drive following his winter split with Newman/Haas/Lanigan, which was prompted by a sponsor departure.

Fisher had initially planned to drive at St Pete and Barber herself as part of her expanded nine-round 2010 programme with her own team. But the team has now confirmed that Rahal will take Fisher's #67 car for those events rather than driving the sister #66 entry, which SFR will not field until Jay Howard's programme commences at Kansas.

Having only contested five road and street course races in her IndyCar career, Fisher said she had no hesitation in recruiting Rahal once it was clear he was on the market.

"We are all very enthusiastic about having Graham in the seat for the two road course races that start off our season," said Fisher, who will now only race on ovals again this year.

"He has incredible talent. When it was brought to my attention that he was available, I reached out to [main sponsor] Dollar General, who were in full support of our decision to give Graham the opportunity."

Although SFR has yet to score a top ten finish in its short history, having only entered a limited programme of races since its formation in early 2008, the team is respected in the IndyCar paddock for its professionalism and the quality of its preparation. Rahal is confident that he can impress with the squad.

"Sarah has clearly done an impressive job building Sarah Fisher Racing and I really thank her, the team, and Dollar General for this opportunity," he said.