Panther Racing sign Meira

The team also confirmed the return of Pennzoil as title sponsor, ending an off-season in which the team came near the brink of disbanding.

Meira, the 28-year-old Brazilian, finished seventh in the IndyCar Series standings last season while driving the No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda/Panoz. Most notable among his efforts was a strong second-place finish behind Dan Wheldon in the Indianapolis 500 and another runner-up finish at Kentucky Speedway.

Meira also finished third twice - at Kansas and California. He finished eighth in final 2004 IRL standings in the No. 17 car despite competing in just 14 of 16 races.

"This is a fresh start for me and for Panther Racing," Meira said in a statement. "And now we are going to make it a quick start. Everything comes full circle; the Panther No. 4 is the first Indy car I ever drove. They gave me my rookie test in Texas in 2001 and now we're going racing together.

"It's been a long off-season, and I'm happy that everything has come together the way it did because I'm excited to be with the team and all the potential that we have."

Out of a ride at the end of the 2005 season, Meira's name was mentioned when several key seats opened during the off-season, but nothing materialized.

He attended last month's test session at Phoenix International Raceway, and indicated he might return to Brazil to race stock cars if he didn't find a ride in the IRL.

Sam Hornish Jr. won IRL championships in the No. 4 car in 2001 and 2002. Tomas Scheckter, who drove the car in 2004 and 2005, recently signed with Vision Racing. Meira will be the fourth driver of the Panther No. 4, which debuted in 1998 with Scott Goodyear.

"It's amazing that we can put a deal together this late and still have an opportunity to sign an A-list driver like Vitor Meira," Panther co-owner John Barnes said.

"Any team would be lucky to have him, and we're excited to be moving forward on the 2006 season. Our goal here has always been to win races, and I believe with Pennzoil, Vitor and Honda power, we can do just that."

Panther had been struggling to stay afloat since the end of the '05 season, when its contract with Pennzoil concluded and its engine supplier, GM Racing, left the IRL.

Barnes placed the No. 4 driven by Hornish in 2001 on eBay for auction in December, and engineer Andy Brown left Panther to join Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

After winning the South American F3 championship in 2000, Meira tested with Panther at Texas Motor Speedway. In 2002, he signed a four-race deal with Team Menard, and won the pole and finished third at Texas. He has finished among the top five 15 times in 45 IRL races in his career.