Da Matta to be confirmed at Toyota at Japanese GP?

CART driver Cristiano de Matta will link up with Olivier Panis at Toyota for 2003, according to reports by BBC Sport Online.

The BBC adds that Da Matta should be confirmed with the team at the Japanese Grand Prix on October the 13th.

Panis and Da Matta will replace Mika Salo and Allan McNish, who were both given the boot at the end of August.

Da Matta is currently competing in the CART series in America with Newman-Haas, and the Brazilian leads the Drivers' Championship by 58 points.

He told BBC Sport: "I wouldn't exchange Newman-Haas for Arrows or Jordan.

"Some guys think F1 is the greatest, but I'm not going to go there just to be a number.

"I think it's a good series, but it's not a dream. It's just something that I want to try.

"My dream is to keep having fun with racing for as long as I can and that means being able to win races and win championships."

Thus far he has won six races in 2002, and if he does switch to F1 he will follow in the footsteps of drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zanardi and Michael Andretti.