Graham Rahal has completed a shock deal with Sarah Fisher Racing for two early season IZOD IndyCar Series races. Rahal had been searching for a new drive since the loss of sponsor McDonald's brought his Newman/Haas/Lanigan stint to an end last winter.
"I guess the news got out earlier than expected!" Rahal wrote on his Twitter page, having earlier promised the revelation of his new team would "shock everyone."
"But still, very exciting, and really looking forward to this!" he added. "Busy day today, and back to SFR for lots of work tomorrow! Really excited about this opportunity."
Fisher initially established her team for the 2008 Indianapolis 500, and has steadily expanded its program since then. This year she will drive in nine rounds herself, including the St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park rounds alongside Rahal, while Jay Howard has also joined SFR for a five-round schedule.
Rahal won the St. Pete race in 2008, in what was his first IndyCar Series appearance as he had missed the post-merger season opener at Homestead due to a testing crash. The 21-year-old was seventh in last year's championship and expected to stay on with Newman/Haas/
Lanigan until recently. He had discussions with Dale Coyne Racing earlier in the winter, but did not reach agreement with the squad, which yesterday announced it had signed Alex Lloyd.