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Hideki Mutoh joins Andretti Green for 2008

By Christopher Estrada | October 30th, 2007

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Hideki Mutoh will join Andretti Green Racing as their fourth driver in 2008. Photo: Chris Jones/Indy Racing League

Hideki Mutoh just might have hit the jackpot.

After an impressive rookie season in America with two wins and a second-place championship finish in the Indy Pro Series, Mutoh will take over the No. 27 Andretti Green Racing car that took the departed Dario Franchitti to both the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series titles last season. With only one IndyCar Series race to his credit, the Tokyo native will be taking team owner Aguri Suzuki with him to back his move to the big cars according to the Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin.

As speculated by SPEEDTV.com’s Robin Miller earlier this month, the move instantly puts the Super Aguri franchise in contention for their first win in the IRL since their inception in 2003 with Roger Yasukawa at the controls for Rahal Letterman Racing. One year later, they installed Kosuke Matsuura as driver and switched allegiances to Fernandez Racing for two years before they landed with Panther Racing in 2006.

In all, the Super Aguri franchise — with both Yasukawa and Matsuura – have amassed just three top-5s and 30 top-10 finishes since it joined the league. Needless to say, the fact that Mutoh will be in one of the series’ top rides next season should finally get that donut out of the win column for team owner Aguri Suzuki. But with as much upside as Mutoh has, he will have a very steep learning curve to go along with his new surroundings. By joining the three-time IndyCar Series champion, he’s set himself up for a fantastic career — or a chaotic fall.

And what of Panther Racing, Mutoh’s former home in the Pro Series? With Suzuki gone (and, if I can assume, the Panasonic money with him), will the two-time ICS kings be forced to drop back to one car again with Vitor Meira? While that would possibly warm the hearts of old-school Panther fans who remember their glory days as a lone wolf — er, cat – the prospect probably doesn’t enthuse team leaders John Barnes and Mike Griffin.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.