Jan 12
26
The Associated Press is reporting that F1 driver Rubens Barrichello will try out an IndyCar during series pre-season testing at Sebring International Raceway next Monday and Tuesday.
Quoting an anonymous source who was “familiar with the plan”, the AP report linked Barrichello to a test run in a new-specification DW12 IndyCar on the Florida short road course with the KV Racing team.
Barrichello’s good friend Tony Kanaan already competes for KV Racing, and last week tweeted a picture of his new Chevrolet-powered race car to Barrichello with the attached comment: “It’s ready for you my friend. Come on in!”
Barrichello looks set to miss out on making the starting grid for the 2012 F1 season after his former team Williams F1 decided to recruit Bruno Senna as his replacement, putting an end to a record 19 consecutive seasons in Grand Prix racing totalling 326 races for six teams making him the most experienced driver in F1 history.
Barrichello had earlier tweeted that his future “is wide open”, but it looked certain that IndyCar was definitely not going to feature in any plans that emerged.
“For sure I will not race on the American ovals,” Barrichello was quoted as saying last week. “I have promised that to my wife, and I will honour it.”
However that does not entirely rule out the popular Brazilian driver signing up for a road-and-street-course-only season, as another former F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais did last year.
KV Racing’s co-owner Jimmy Vasser, team manager Mark Johnson and driver Tony Kanaan were not immediately contactable by reporters following the AP story’s publication.
The AP report emphasised that Barrichello has not made any plans beyond the rumoured two-day session at Sebring. The test – if it goes ahead – may be nothing more than some fun away from the F1 spotlight and a social get-together with Kanaan, with Barrichello already visiting Orlando, Florida with his family this week.
Articles are gathered and rebroadcast from public feeds: source: http://www.crash.net/indycar/news/176240/1/rubens_barrichello_set_to_test_indycar.html
