Having been called into the Conquest Racing team for the Belle Isle event, Alex Tagliani has now been confirmed in the seat of the #36 car for the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway this coming weekend.

Tagliani will once again replace Enrique Bernoldi who has failed to recover from his ligament and will require further rest before he is ready to return to racing. As well as the final round of the season, Tagliani will also be with the team for the non-championship event at Surfers Paradise as the teams look to make the most of his previous experience of racing on the Gold Coast.

“Unfortunately Enrique's injury is not healing as fast as we thought and would've liked, and with Alex doing such a great job last weekend it was an easy decision to keep him in the car for Joliet,” team owner Eric Bachelart said. “We also elected to keep Alex for Australia since he has so much experience at that track. We've been looking for strong results all year and we saw what he was able to do in Detroit.

“Bringing Alex to a track he knows at Surfers and with more time behind the wheel, I think we will be able to fight for a win and end the season on a high note.”

Tagliani will be making his first outing at Chicago and will be racing on an oval for the first time since 2005. However the 35-year-old said he was relishing the opportunity to extend his relationship with the team.

“I'm honoured that Conquest has called on me again this weekend to drive for them,” he said. “It was such a satisfying feeling to be working with such a professional group of guys last weekend. We came in at the last minute and made so much progress in so little time. We had a top five car on race day and that is proof just how good these guys are.

“As for this weekend, it's been a while since I have done ovals but I'm not worried about getting back into it. Once again I want to help the team as much as possible. I can't wait.”