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IndyCar News (2007)
IRL News - Mutoh Takes Franchitti's Seat
01/11/2007
Hideki Mutoh will take over the Andretti Green Racing seat of 2007 IndyCar Champion Dario Franchitti for next season.
The Japanese driver joins the team with just one season in the Indy ProSeries and one IndyCar start to his name, but he made his mark in both endeavors. He won two races and finished second in points in his rookie Indy Pro Series season, and he out-qualified his Panther Racing teammates and finished eighth in his IndyCar Series debut at Chicagoland.
"I am very excited to be joining Andretti Green Racing," he said. "The team's record is very impressive and I am hopeful that I can contribute to its future success.
"I wish to thank Andretti Green and Honda for giving me this great opportunity. I am very eager for the 2008 season to begin and am looking forward to working with all of my new teammates."
Team boss Michael Andretti believes that Mutoh will benefit from the experience of having three teammates next year.
"I think Hideki's got a lot of talent and a lot of potential, especially in our system at Andretti Green," he said.
"We've been impressed with him since the first open test of 2007 when I got a look at him in an Indy Pro Series car for the first time.
"He is going to have three great teammates to lean on and that should really help his learning curve as a rookie."
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