"I think the Indy 500 is the biggest single race in the world, and my dream would be to be the second person in the family to win that," he confirmed, "However, we're far from that at the moment. This is just the start of a, hopefully, prosperous project. My immediate goal is to adapt to American racing as quickly as possible with the 500 as my target. With hard work and a humble approach, success should be in our reach."

The Italian-American will make his series debut during the Homestead-Miami open test on 20 February.

"I want to learn as much as I can," he admitted, "I don't have any targets as far as position and placement in the first test go. I think [the car] has a very good power-to-weight ratio, and sounds fun to drive. I also know the Dallara chassis from F3, and it's quite a similar car. But I have no oval experience, so I want to be able to learn that. The first thing we need to do is really work thoroughly. I have to get the grips of the car. The team and I have to gel well, and go from there."

Cheever's 2006 pairing of Chris Festa and Nick Bussell are likely to move on, with Festa having already agreed terms to join the new Chip Ganassi Racing IPS team for the coming season.