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Alex Lloyd signs with Ganassi
By Andrew Cutler October 30 2007
2007 has been a whirlwind year for Alex Lloyd. The young Englishman has won the Indy Pro Series championship in dominating fashion and become a first-time father. Now he has landed a contract with one of IndyCar's top teams; Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

The agreement is being called a "developmental" deal, as Lloyd will spend the bulk of his time as a test driver for the team while running a limited race schedule in a third car, alongside TCGR's Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon. There will also be a few drives in Ganassi's Rolex Grand Am Series car. As of yet, no details have been released regarding which events he will compete in.

Lloyd is quite happy with the deal, despite the fact that is not for a full time race seat. "I can really learn the traits of the IndyCar Series and grow within the team. I feel that although I won't be doing a full season next year, the races that I will be doing I will be in one of the best cars out there with a team I've admired for years way before I came over (to the United States from England). For me, that's actually a more exciting thing than saying I'll be doing a full year in a mid-field car."

Mike Hull, director of Ganassi Racing, says that the everyone was impressed by what Lloyd showed them during just a few days testing with the team. In the span of 10 days, he took the wheel of two very different race cars for the first time. He showed at Sebring that he is ready to race an IndyCar, and then at Infineon Raceway for the Grand Am event, proved under race conditions that his skills were immediately equal to the best drivers in the very competitive high-horsepower Daytona Protoypes."

Alex Lloyd's path through the lower echelons of racing included the UK Formula Renault Series in 2003, where he finished 2nd in the championship behind F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. In 2005 Lloyd competed in 7 F3000 races, claiming three poles and one victory. In 2007 he dominated the Indy Pro Series (the last stop on the developmental ladder to the IRL), winning eight of the sixteen races.

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