Petty Enterprises announced today that 31-year-old CART driver Christian Fittipaldi will drive a Petty Dodge beginning in 2003. The plans call for a combined BGN and Cup program beginning next season that will lead to a full-time Winston Cup program with the team in 2004 and 2005. The team is currently looking for a primary sponsor for the program.. Fittipaldis racing experience is impressive. After winning the Formula 3000 Championship in 1991, the Brazilian competed in Formula One from 1992 1994 and then moved to the CART Series in 1995. He has won twice in CART and now brings his diverse experience and impressive talent to Petty Enterprises and NASCAR. Ive been looking at NASCAR over the last several years and knew I wanted to be a part of it, said Fittipaldi. Ive been part of one of the top teams in the CART series with Newman/Haas and I wanted to find a similar opportunity in NASCAR. Petty Enterprises is one of the top names in the sport. Their team is clearly on the way up and they have an impressive group of people and equipment working to take them to the top. Im looking forward to being a part of it..
Christian will be another bright new star in our sport, said Kyle Petty, CEO of Petty Enterprises. Its exciting for us to have landed him. Hes got tremendous experience and hes been very successful in every series hes raced in from Formula 3000 to F1 to CART. With our knowledge in this sport and his ability and experience as a driver, were confident that he can win races and contend for Championships in the near future.. Fittipaldi currently drives the #11 Newman/Haas car in CART. He has four top-five finishes this season and is currently 9th in points. He has run a limited number of BGN races in 2001 and 2002 (for Innovative Motorsports #30). His schedule in 2003 will consist primarily of BGN and Cup races and possibly several ARCA races as well. We tested him in our cars in Lakeland (FL) and he was very impressive, said Petty Enterprises Vice President and General Manager Robin Pemberton. Hes clearly an incredibly talented driver, very smart and communicates well with the team. Hes going to be exciting to watch. Dodge is equally excited about adding Fittipaldi to their current stable of NASCAR drivers. Dodge Vice President of Motorsports and SRT Marketing Jim Julow said, Were always looking at building for future success and its rare you are able to add somebody with as much talent and experience as Christian. This is a great move for Petty Enterprises and a tremendous boost for Dodge and NASCAR..(Williams Company PR), for past news and rumors on this, see my #45 Team News and Links page.(8-7-2002)
