| 16 January 2012
After its partnership with Gil de Ferran fell apart last offseason, the team was forced to go part-time and cobble together a five-race effort for Paul Tracy and an ill-fated, two-car Indy 500 program for Scott Speed and Ho-Pin Tung, which saw neither of them make the race (Tung would make his series debut later in the year at Sonoma).
But now, Jay Penske's gang has landed partner team status with Lotus and will go to a full-time operation in 2012 with an interesting combo of drivers: Four-time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais and English pilot Katherine Legge, who hasn't been in open-wheel racing since her 2007 campaign with Dale Coyne Racing in the CCWS. The now-confirmed news first broke on Jan. 11 within the European media, with SPEEDTV.com's Marshall Pruett picking it up Stateside on the same date.
All in all, not a bad turnaround from a rough 2011 season.
As for the drivers, Bourdais raced in all nine road/street course events last year with Dale Coyne Racing while also fulfilling obligations in Europe's Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. He claimed five top-10 finishes, with a top run of sixth on four different occasions at Toronto, Edmonton, Sonoma and Motegi.
Legge comes off a three-year run (2008-2010) in the DTM touring car series. She has two years of Champ Car experience under her belt, running in 2006 with PKV Racing and Coyne in 2007. This season will see her be backed by TrueCar, an automotive marketplace website.
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The series has announced more details on the upcoming Spring Training test sessions in March at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway. The sessions, which will run from March 5-9, will feature both IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights squads preparing for the season opener later that month at St. Petersburg, Florida.
Here's the schedule, with dates, times and teams involved:
March 5 (9 a.m. - Noon ET; 1-5 p.m. ET) and March 6 (9 a.m. - Noon ET; 1-4 p.m. ET)
Andretti Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing, Dreyer and Reinbold, Lotus Dragon, HVM, Penske, Sam Schmidt Motorsports
March 7 (9 a.m. - Noon ET; 1-4 p.m. ET)
Firestone Indy Lights teams
March 8 (10 a.m. - Noon ET; 1-5 p.m. ET) and March 9 (9 a.m. - Noon; 1-5 p.m. ET)
A.J. Foyt Racing, Bryan Herta Autosport, Ed Carpenter Racing, Ganassi (TCGR/Service Central/Novo Nordisk), KV, Panther, Rahal Letterman, MSRIndy
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