After a month of rumours and reports that he was set to quit the IZOD
IndyCar Series after just one season, former F1 Driver Rubens Barrichello made it official on Thursday.
He made the announcement on the Cloozup social media site for athletes and sports stars, which was linked to from Barrichello's verified Twitter feed.
The translated post read: "Hello everyone, the time has come to make it official. I am excited to announce my plans to race for the 2013 Stockcar Championship in Brazil.
"My new home will be at Full Time Sports with our primary sponsor, Generic Medley," he added.
Barrichello made it clear in the announcement that he was basing his decision on his desire to move back to his home land after years competing in overseas motor sports championships like F1 and IndyCar.
"After 20-plus years representing Brazil racing all over the world, it is time to come home," he said. "It will be amazing to race in my home country again, while allowing me to be closer to my family. I have much enthusiasm for what this will bring perfect fit.
"I want to thank each of you for the continued support through the years," he added. "I will proceed to make you proud with my competition on the race track, and my love for our sport and fans off the track."
He signed off with: "Here's to a successful 2013!"
Reports strongly suggesting that Barrichello was to move to the V8 touring car series circulated earlier in December, but despite sources confidently asserting that the decision had been made and the the deal already signed, it was only after the Christmas holidays that Barrichello himself made the news official.
Barrichello had originally been believed to have wanted to stay in
IndyCar for a sophomore season, in order to build on a successful rookie year alongside his best friend Tony Kanaan at KV Racing Technology. However it seems that he has been thwarted by being unable to find sponsorship backing to make it happen.
"I'm torn between Indy and stock car," he was reported as saying at the time. “For two months I've been talking to people and trying very hard," he told
SPEED.com. "But it hasn't moved much since the last race in Fontana."