IndyCar: Zanardi invited to run the $5m final

There are many applicants. And for good reason ! The guest driver who will manage to beat the usual competitors of theIndyCar will pocket 5 million dollars. An award which aroused keen interest. Many names are circulating: J. Villeneuve, M. Brundle, JP Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, S. Pagenaud, T. Stewart, S. Speed, P. Solberg… But none is yet guaranteed to benefit from the precious cesame.

For now, only one privileged person has received an invitation from Randy Bernard, the General Director of IndyCar: Alessandro Zanardi.
Titled in the CART championship in 1997 and 1998 with the Chip Ganassi team, the Italian was then the victim of a terrible accident on the Lautsitzring circuit in 2001 and had to have both legs amputated. However, in 2003, Zanardi took the wheel of a car specially equipped and had symbolically completed the laps that remained to be covered during this famous race. 
Then, the Italian even returned to competition at the controls of a BMW adapted to his handicap and entered in the WTCC. Zanardi thus won three victories in this discipline before his contract with BMW came to an end. Will he line up at the start of the Las Vegas race? Zanardi did not decline…

“We had a discussion about it” Zanardi confirmed regarding Randy Bernard's phone call. “I didn’t think he was serious. I'm an old fart now. I would really like to be there. It's one thing to talk about it, but another to put everything in order for it to happen. Then you have to do it” he concluded.

His friend and IndyCar champion, Dario Franchitti was delighted to learn of Zanardi's interest in the Las Vegas race. The Scotsman only wonders if the car is wide enough to accommodate his friend's broad shoulders. “He was always strong as an ox. A bit like Popeye. But now it’s double” he explained, referring to the disabled sports marathons in which Zanardi successfully participates.

The disclosure of the identity of the five invited drivers is unlikely before May, announced Bernard, the initiator of this final that everyone is talking about.