Brian Stewart Racing has signed New Zealand's Mitchell Cunningham to contest the eight road course races on this year's Indy Pro Series schedule, continuing a family trend within the team.
Cunningham, 21, is the younger brother of 2005 Indy Pro Series champion Wade Cunningham, who drove for Brian Stewart Racing in 2005 and again in 2006, when the team claimed its two series entrant titles.
"I think Mitchell will have great success in the Indy Pro Series," team owner Brian Stewart said, "I'm confident that he will do a good job for us and I know we'll do a good job for him."
Cunningham Jr made his car racing debut last year, having originally followed his older brother into European karting. He finished fifth in the Pacific Formula Ford 2000 Series, scoring a win at Willow Springs in California in just his third start in the series. He finished sixth in the recently concluded Toyota Racing Series point standings in New Zealand, and will now concentrate on the road course portion of the IPS schedule.
"I see this as a way of getting experience in the bigger, more powerful [Indy Pro Series] cars before tackling a full programme in 2009," Cunningham said, "It's a big jump from the cars I have been driving, like the FF2000 and the Toyotas, which are four cylinders and produce up to maybe 200 horsepower, to the IPS car, which is a V8 and produces 450 horsepower. By doing it this way, I can focus on one thing at a time."
![Wade Cunningham, Brian Stewart Racing Dallara-Infiniti, Infineon Raceway 2005. [Pic Credit Shawn Payne]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/174883.jpg)
