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TORONTO, Canada (July 9, 2006) — Cristiano da Matta has packed a lot of racing experience into his 33 years, and he’s still out on the course racking up the laps. He’s the 2002 Champ Car World Series champion, and that year he was also given SPEED Channel’s Driver of the Year award (remember his “130 lb. of fun” campaign?). He made 28 starts in Formula One with Toyota Grand Prix, over two years, and despite that two-year hiatus he still ranks second only to Paul Tracy among active drivers with 12 wins, a statistic he fully intends to add to with his brand-new team. Cristiano was one of the drivers recently ‘swapped’ in a three-way move along with Mario Dominguez and A.J. Allmendinger, and has landed at RuSport in the No. 10 car beside Justin Wilson. As you may imagine, a change of teams in midseason is a scramble for both driver and team, and as Cristiano was quick to point out, “After only two races together, we are still learning to work together and it will take some time for the team I’m working with to gel around me and what works best for me. But this car is very well developed, more than the [PKV Racing] car I drove here last year, and I’m happy with our progress so far.”

After leaving Formula One (a move he stressed he was pleased to have made), the search was on for a foothold in the North American racing series that had been so good to him, and at the last minute he found it with Dale Coyne Racing, where he worked hard with the small team (a favourite with Champ Car fans for extending a hand to drivers and their loyalty to the series through thick and extremely thin) until he got that call from Carl Russo. Always a fan favourite, he’s out to prove that he’s just as big an asset to Champ Cars as he has always been.

“I’m very happy to be back racing in North America,” he stressed. “I like living here and I like racing here. And although interacting with fans and meeting people is only part of what we do, it’s a much bigger part here than it is in Formula One, where the paddock is closed and you only see journalists and sponsors! I like to meet and talk with people as much as I have time for, and I missed that when I was over in Formula One.” As mentioned by every driver asked about Formula One, the word ‘politics’ seems to cover it all. Every racing series, indeed every organized group or workplace, has its intrigues and fiefdoms, but here in North America it doesn’t seem to get in the way as those who experience or investigate F1 discover it does ‘over there’.

Because Cristiano is back to Toronto in quite a different car this year, there’s some amount of ‘learning curve’ involved in his return to Toronto, but he found the track unchanged from last year and that, along with his experience as a driver, has helped him put the car in the top 10 on tomorrow’s starting grid. Both the team and Cristiano are certain there’s even more in the car and are optimistic that in the race they can find it. “I’m a little a disappointed that we didn’t get everything out of the car,” said da Matta. “I think we had a car that was good enough for the top five. But fortunately, we have 86 laps in tomorrow’s race to get it back. I was hoping to make more gains from yesterday to today than we did , but we’ll just keep working hard and try to find out what we need to do for tomorrow.”

Because this weekend’s race coincides with the World Cup Final, and because Cristiano is Brazilian and his countrymen support futbol as single-mindedly as they support their motor racing, the subject of World Cup play was inevitable. Now that Brazil is out of the World Cup final, Cristiano has no favourite in the final, but he’s very much looking forward to seeing how it ends up. And like his futbol-playing countrymen, Cristiano fully intends to be back at the top in his chosen field when the next World Cup rolls around in four years. “I am in [Champ Cars] for the long term,” he said firmly. “If Paul Tracy can do it, so can I – and I am much younger than he is!”

Although Cristiano has already conquered many of the mountains to be climbed in a racing career, there are always more challenges ahead. Look for Cristiano da Matta passing the field on his way back to the top at a Champ Car race near you!