Mears goes IRL route with Galles
Casey Mears, who stunned the CART establishment when he led his debut Champ Car race at Fontana's season-closer last year, will switch to the rival Indy Racing League for 2001
Mears, the nephew of Champ Car legend Rick, will drive in at least four races for Rick Galles Racing, alongside Al Unser Jr and the team's other new signing, former Indy Lights frontrunner Didier Andre.
Mears current programme ends with the Indy 500, but the 22-year-old says he is confident of finding sponsorship to complete the season.
"I am very excited and happy to be with Galles Racing," he said. "It's a great opportunity to be with a race team that has so much depth and has been in Indycar racing for so long."
After finishing fourth in his Fontana debut, Mears had been expected to graduate full-time to the CART FedEx Series, but turned down a potential drive with the new Brooke-Arciero team in favour of the IRL deal.
Mears should run in his car for the first time at the IRL's official pre-season test at Phoenix on February 9/10.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Dale Coyne Racing retains Harvey for Long Beach IndyCar race
How to watch WRC's Croatia Rally: schedule, line-up and more
McLaren F1 team bracing for "damage limitation" in Chinese GP
How Porsche won, lost and won in Misano Formula E mayhem
The apprenticeship that will aid Ilott's IndyCar to WEC switch at Jota
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
How Ericsson achieved Indy immortality as Ganassi's main man stumbled
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments