The Lexmark Indy 300 is set to have two Australian participants this year after it was announced this morning that former F1 test driver Ryan Briscoe will fill the vacant seat for RuSPORT at next week’s Gold Coast Champ Car event (October 19 to 22).

Coming off appearances at both Sandown and Bathurst for the Holden Racing Team, Briscoe was officially announced this morning as RuSPORT’s new driver for both Australia and the final round at Mexico City.

Briscoe, who tested for RuSPORT in Mexico 10 days ago, will join Team Australia’s Will Power as the two Australians in the race and will become the sixth Aussie to drive in a round of the Champ Car World Series on the streets of Surfers Paradise.

The Australian driver honour board includes Gary Brabham (1993-94), Jason Bright (2000), David Besnard (2004), and Marcus Marshall and Power (2005).

RuSPORT has competed at the past three Champ Car rounds with just single-car entries after its regular driver Cristiano da Matta, a former winner at Surfers Paradise, was badly injured in a testing accident after a deer wandered on to the track at Road America.

Briscoe brings a solid base of racing experience to the Champ Car World Series. He served as a test driver for Toyota’s Formula 1 program from 2002-2004, competed in the Indy Racing League as a member of Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2005, and raced in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in 2005 and 2006, winning the pole last year.

The Sydney racer who celebrated his 25th birthday last month is excited about making his Champ Car debut in front of a home crowd.

“I’m very excited about joining RuSPORT and competing in Champ Car,” said Briscoe.

“Because my official start will be at Surfers Paradise, it will be a very special race for me. It’s been my goal since the beginning of the year to race in Champ Car, and I’m with a top team, so it’s a really exciting opportunity for me.

“I’m hoping we can get off to a quick start and get some good results right away.

“I attended the Gold Coast race in 1997 as a young karter and as a bit of a fan and now it will be great to compete at the event which really is one of the great spectacles in world motorsport.”

Briscoe had several months of recuperation last year after a horrific crash in an IRL car at the Chicagoland Motor Speedway in September.

The incident occurred in Turn 3 as contact with Alex Barron sent Briscoe's car airborne and against the retaining fence above the SAFER barrier.

Briscoe sustained a concussion, two broken collarbones, a bruised lung and contusions to his legs and arms. He also had a tiny fracture to a small bone in his right foot and several contusions on his back. He remained in hospital for eight days.

Just 45 days later he was back behind the wheel of a go-kart and had completed F1 and Champ Car tests within a week of each other in early December.

2006 has already been a busy year for Briscoe.

In addition to the Rolex Grand American event in Daytona in January, he has competed in four IRL events as a member of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, scoring two top-10 finishes, including one third-place finish at Watkins Glen.

Briscoe also represented Australia in the opening round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, finishing in third in Zandvoort in The Netherlands on October 1.

His efforts with HRT included taking provisional pole at Sandown in his first ever V8 Supercar event and some reasonable laps times at Bathurst, where he never actually got to drive in the race because of an accident involving his co-driver Jim Richards.

Briscoe recently moved to Charlotte North Carolina from Indianapolis, where he only caught up with Power for the first time at the US Grand Prix.

“Will and I raced against each other in a British F3 race at Spa in 2003, but that has been about it,” said Briscoe.

“We ran into each other at the US GP and sat down and had a chat, but our careers have never really crossed paths because we have been doing different things.”

Lexmark Indy 300 chairman Terry Mackenroth said the addition of Briscoe to the field would just add another dimension to what was shaping as another record-breaking event.

“Ryan is obviously a talented young driver and it is great news that RuSPORT have given him the drive for our event,” said Mackenroth.

“For so many years we never had an Australian driver to follow in the Champ Car Series, but the creation of Team Australia has changed that over the last couple of years and really drawn more and more attention to the sport of Champ Car, Australian talent and to our event.

“The fact that we will have Queenslander Will Power and Sydney’s Ryan Briscoe out there this year is fantastic – we will almost have our own State of Origin battle going on as well.”

RuSPORT President, Jeremy Dale was obviously pleased to announce that Briscoe would be partnering Justin Wilson at RuSPORT for the final two races of the season.

“Since Cristiano’s accident in August, we have been spent a considerable amount of time and effort on finding the right driver for the No. 10 car,” said RuSPORT president Jeremy Dale.

“Although we interviewed and tested several talented and capable drivers, we believe Ryan is the ideal type of driver for RuSPORT.”

Tickets for the Lexmark Indy 300 are on sale through Ticketek on phone 1300 303 103, via the event website at www.indy.com.au or at any Ticketek agency.

Pre-purchase ticket holders and corporate pass holders will be able to ‘Ride Free’ on all Surfside Buslines services on the Gold Coast and Queensland Rail Citytrain services from Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

RYAN BRISCOE CAREER
Date of Birth: September 24, 1981
Born: Sydney, Australia
Lives: Charlotte, North Carolina
Height: 172cm
Weight: 67kg
2006
3rd Opening round A1 GP - Zandvoort in The Netherlands.
Quickest in official qualifying for Sandown 500 – HRT
2005

IRL Indycar Championship with Chip Ganassi Racing
Indianapolis 500: 10th
Daytona Rolex 24hrs with Comp USA Chip Ganassi Racing: Qualify Pole, Race 7th.
2004
F1 - Panasonic Toyota Racing 2nd test driver and 3rd driver
2003
Official TDA driver
Formula 3 - Euro Series: 1st (8 wins)
F1 - Occasional tests for Panasonic Toyota Racing
2002
Official TDA driver
F1 - Panasonic Toyota Racing Official test driver
Formula 3000 - Int. Championship: (7 races)
Formula 3 - German Championship: (3 podiums, 6 rounds)
2001
Signed to Toyota Drivers Academy program
Formula Renault 2000 - Italian Championship: 1st (5 wins)
Formula Renault 2000 - Eurocup: 4th (2 wins, 6 races)
1993-2000
National and international karting success