Ryan Briscoe has admitted that his return to the Indycar Series fold could not have come at a better time, following his call-up to the Penske squad to replace the departing Sam Hornish Jr.

Although the move has been rumoured for some time, the Australian was only officially confirmed alongside Helio Castroneves for 2008 on Monday night, but he says that, despite the wait, the news is what he wanted to hear.

"The IndyCar Series is where I really wanted to be next year," Briscoe told indycar.com, "I'm just so excited about having a second chance. I definitely feel I have unfinished business after 2005. Coming back to Indy this year was a great step forward and I want to build on that."

Briscoe was slowly making a name for himself in the IRL, and had only recently recorded his maiden pole position for Target Chip Ganassi Racing when he suffered a major shunt at Chicagoland towards the end of 2005. Nursing myriad broken bones, the Australian did not return until the latter stages of 2006, and was unable to land a regular ride for the 2007 campaign, although he starred for the one-off Luczo Dragon team at Indianapolis after breaking from his ALMS campaign with Penske.

"It's great timing, especially at this point in my career," the 26-year old said, "The fact that I'm racing in America is a great chance for me. I know the history Penske has, the drivers that have raced there and the drivers that have wanted to race. It is an amazing feeling and I want to make the most of it.

"I've been under their eye for a while with the Porsche ALMS programme, and I've been closely watched. If Sam wasn't going to NASCAR, I would have done all I could to be patient and remain on the team."

Team owner Roger Penske, whose son co-owned the Luczo Dragon entry at Indy, admitted that he wanted to see what Briscoe was capable of before committing him to the vacant #6 Dallara.

"He had the experience with a year at Ganassi, had been involved in a lot of road racing and was a Formula One test driver - and we were really impressed with the job he did with Porsche," Penske said, "There were two key points and number one was to run him at Indy. He did a great job and was right there if it hadn't rained. Number two, we wanted to see what he did with the Porsche programme, and he did very well. We tested him [in an IndyCar Series car] at Milwaukee and Sebring and he fits our mould. He's young and he understands the sponsor and I think he has a long career with us."

Managing director Mike Hull confirmed that Briscoe had been at the head of the team's wish-list to replace NASCAR-bound Hornish, dubbing the Australian 'The Comeback Kid'.

"He's a competitive guy and he works at getting better," he concluded, "With Penske Racing, he'll run at the front."