Bruno Junqueira has secured a last-minute deal for the Indianapolis 500, signed up to drive Conquest Racing's second car in today's third qualifying session.
The Brazilian, who took pole position at Indy in 2002 when driving for Ganassi, will join Alex Tagliani at Conquest. Tagliani is also still seeking to get into the field having crashed on a practice run last weekend.
Conquest team boss Eric Bachelart does not think Junqueira will have any problems getting up to speed despite only driving the car for the first time today.
"We are very excited to have Bruno join the team," said Bachelart. "Bruno is a proven winner and I am fully confident in his abilities to come out and do well despite the limited practice time. Bruno also brings with him a wealth of experience racing here at Indianapolis and we look forward to working with him."
Junqueira agreed that the late start to his Indy programme could be overcome given his and Conquest's experience at the track.
"We've talked in the past and I'm looking forward to working with them as they are a very well organised team," said Junqueira. "The Indy 500 is a special race for me and having the chance to do this race again will be very nice.
"For sure we do not have much time to prepare, but I have good experience at this track and I think we can put the car in the race and have a good showing."
The Brazilian does not have a full-time drive in the IndyCar Series this year, having lost his Dale Coyne Racing seat to Newman/Haas/Lanigan refugee Justin Wilson during the winter.