Atlantic

Valiante signs with Lynx Racing for 2002

Valiante ascends up the CART ladder 1999 Barber Dodge Pro Series Co-Rookie of the Year Michael Valiante only had a limited amount of time to show what he could do in the 2001 Toyota Atlantic Championship. The Canadian karting ace made the most of ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Valiante ascends up the CART ladder

1999 Barber Dodge Pro Series Co-Rookie of the Year Michael Valiante only had a limited amount of time to show what he could do in the 2001 Toyota Atlantic Championship. The Canadian karting ace made the most of his opportunity, snaring second-place finishes in Montreal and Vancouver and finishing ninth in the series standings despite running just five of the 12 races. Valiante was rewarded for his efforts Friday, as he was named get a full-season ride in the Lynx Racing No. 19 Swift for the 2002 season.

"Lynx is a legend among young drivers looking for a way to graduate up into CART, and I'm thrilled to be chosen for the team," says Valiante. "The five races I drove with the team this season were a real education in how a top team operates and what it takes to compete at this level. My goal this year was to satisfy both myself and the team that I can learn and run fast at the same time, and I feel I've achieved that. As for next year, the team is ready and able to win another championship, and I'm going to do my best to give them what they want.”

Valiante hopes to climb the CART ladder as Lynx graduates Patrick Carpentier, Memo Gidley and Alex Barron had done before him.

"Michael is an absolute natural to be a CART star in the future, and we're delighted to help him get there," says Lynx co-owner Peggy Haas. "We've had our eye on him for a couple of years, and the job he did with us this year simply confirmed our assessment that we're the right team for him and he's the right driver for us. We're very much looking forward to the coming season."

OTHER NEWS:

A weekend of limited race action was highlighted by Skip Barber trained talent. Jeff Burton landed on the podium in the EA Sports 500 from Talledega with his third place result. Three time Winston Cup Champion and current series points leader Jeff Gordon and Joe Nemechek finished seventh and eighth respectively to round out the Skip Barber trained top-10.

-bdps-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Guy Cosmo in charity bachelor auction

Next article Rutledge is Canadian Champion Race Driver of the Year 2001

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

1 h

Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss

Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS

The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend

WEC

WEC WEC

Barcelona

2 h

The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend

Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut

WEC

WEC WEC

Barcelona

3 h

Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts