Zanardi Pioneers second car for Nunn.

Two-time CART series champion Alex Zanardi will join Mo Nunn Racing next season as the team expands to a two-car operation for its second year of competition.

The 34-year-old Italian returns to the CART series for the first time since winning the second of his back-to-back titles, and will pilot a new Mo Nunn entry sporting the colours and brands of Pioneer Electronics' American arm, headquartered in Champcar venue Long Beach. The former Chip Ganassi driver recorded 15 race wins and ten pole positions in his 51 CART starts from 1996-98.

"The opportunity is so good that I cannot continue with my vacation," Zanardi smiled, "I am looking forward to working with Morris again, and I'm thankful to Pioneer and Honda for making this possible."

The sometime F1 driver will partner Tony Kanaan, the 25-year old Brazilian veteran of three Champcar seasons, who returns for a second year driving the #55 Hollywood-backed Nunn entry after earning seven top-ten finishes in the team's inaugural season.

"When we began this adventure, we intended to be a two-car race team all along," said team owner Morris Nunn, who engineered Zanardi to his 1997-98 titles during a four-year championship run at Target Chip Ganassi Racing before starting his own team a year ago this week.

"Frankly, though, we really didn't expect to bring together a program of this calibre, with competitors like Tony and Alex, quite this soon. I'm very happy to have on board a proven champion in Alex, and a young champion-in-the-making in Tony. It's the best of both worlds from a team owner's standpoint."

Also new for 2001, both the Pioneer Electronics and Hollywood-backed Mo Nunn Racing Reynards will be powered by Honda, which has produced the last five CART driver champions - including Zanardi's back-to-back titles in 1997-98 - and propelled Kanaan to his first Champcar victory at the 1999 US 500, as well as his Rookie of the Year title in 1998.

New sponsor Pioneer begins its third season as a sponsor on the CART circuit in 2001, having backed Cristiano da Matta at PPI last year. The deal with Mo Nunn is entirely separate to that which took Tora Takagi to Derrick Walker's team last week.

"Pioneer is pleased to work with Morris Nunn and to be a part of the team that is bringing two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi back to the 2001 race series," said Ed Sachs, executive vice president of Pioneer's Car Electronics Division, "As a technology-driven company, Pioneer is proud to be a part of this excellent new team with a fantastic driver, great engineers and strong leadership."

Meanwhile, three-time series manufacturers champion Honda welcomed back a driving duo that accounted for 16 of its 53 CART wins since joining the circuit in 1994.

"We're delighted to begin our association with Mo Nunn Racing," said Robert Clarke, general manager of Honda Performance Development, "It will give Honda the opportunity to reunite with several individuals who each have contributed to our success in Champ Car racing: two-time champion Alex Zanardi; Tony Kanaan, a former rookie-of-the-year and US 500 race winner; and, of course, team owner Morris Nunn."

With the new season just around the corner, Nunn was quick to thank Mercedes-Benz, which has left the series in order to focus on its Formula One programme.

"We appreciate everything that Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor Engineering meant to this program," the former F1 team owner said, "They were largely responsible for this team happening in the first place, and they helped us tremendously every step of the way during our first season. While they had other plans, we certainly had a great relationship and wish them well."

The team plans to embark on an aggressive off-season testing schedule this month. Next season's opener, the first of 22 races on the 2001 calendar, is set for 11 March at an all-new road course facility in Monterrey, Mexico.