India's promising racing driver Armaan Ebrahim has received an invitation from Bryan Herta Autosport,one of the leading teams in the North American Firestone Indy Lights championship,for a test drive on September 14 at Indianapolis as a prelude to his participation in the 2012 series. This is the first time ever that an Indian racer has received an invitation from the Indy Lights Championship,which is a feeder series for the iconic and high-profile Indy Racing League (IRL),the American equivalent of Formula One. Team owner Bryan Herta,the 1993 Indy Lights Champion,believes that the 22-year- old Armaan,will make a seamless transition to the IRL programme. We are very excited with the possibility of Armaan being with us and racing for us. We have been tracking his career for some time now and are very optimistic that he will fit in well with us and with Indy and most importantly,do extremely well, Herta said. We have fixed the test with Armaan for the September 13/14 and will be spending a few days with him and his team to see if we can all come to a firm agreement on all aspects for 2012 and 2013, Herta said. Herta had raced alongside Armaan in the 2005 A1 GP series when the Indian set a world record of being the youngest at 16 to represent his country in an international series. Armaan,who is currently focusing on his forthcoming F2 race in Austria,is excited with the Indy test invite. I am looking forward to the test in the Indy Lights Car in September and to have long and meaningful discussions with the team and the Elevation Group to see how my future career can pan out. Although there are offers to race in the IRL straight away,I may opt to do the Indy Lights first and then move on to the IRL as racing in US is quite different to what we have been used to in Europe. I prefer to take one step at a time, he said. Obviously,my dream is to drive a Formula 1 car. However,I would rather be in a team that offers an opportunity to win races than be in Formula 1 for the sake of it, he said. The 14-round Indy Lights offers prize-money up to the 20th place finisher while the winner of the championship is eligible for fully paid drive in the IRL the following year. Thus,it is important that I continue in the right direction and that is financially viable for me. The intention is to have a successful career that is most important and finally get the opportunity of winning races in the IRL and in Formula 1, Armaan said.
