Takagi confirmed at Nunn with Pioneer backing.

Tora Takagi has been confirmed as Mo Nunn Racing's second driver for the 2003 Indy Racing League season, finalising his switch from the CART series after two years with Derek Walker.

Takagi will join former IRL rookie of the year, and 2002 race winner, Felipe Giaffone to form a two-car, Toyota-powered team under the direction of owner Morris Nunn. Both drivers will use Panoz G-Force chassis, Takagi backed by CART sponsor Pioneer electronics and Giaffone by Hollywood cigarettes.

The announcement of Takagi's sponsorship continues the company's relationship with Mo Nunn Racing into a third consecutive year, a similar period to that enjoyed by the Japanese driver and Pioneer. The electronics giant will again be joined by associate sponsor Denso.

"We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Morris and Mo Nunn Racing for the 2003 season," said Ed Sachs, executive vice president for mobile entertainment at Pioneer Electronics [USA] Inc, "We are equally excited to be able to continue our relationship with Tora Takagi for a third season. Tora's performance on ovals has been extremely good, and combining Tora's driving skills with Morris' engineering and strong team should lead us to a great season."

The 28-year old Takagi will enter his first year in the IRL with a team that, in its inaugural year of oval-only competition, finished fourth in the championship, third at the Indy 500 and recorded twelve top-seven finishes, including a win at Kentucky.

"It is truly a privilege and an honour to continue my relationship with Pioneer and Toyota, and I am very excited to be joining Mo Nunn Racing in 2003," said Takagi, who recorded eleven top-ten finishes the past two seasons, with CART career-bests of fourth place on the mile oval at Chicago in 2002 and on the streets of Houston in 2001.

"The team was only in its first season on the IRL this year, but right away it was fighting for the championship with its amazing consistency," the Japanese driver said, "I think it is a great place to be as I start my third year of racing in America, and I'm really looking forward to racing in the Indy 500 in May."

After rising through the Formula Nippon Series and Japanese F3 ranks, Takagi became a test driver for the Tyrrell F1 team in 1997, assumed one of its driving positions in 1998, then joined the Arrows F1 team in 1999. He drove to top-ten finishes four times in those two F1 seasons, but returned to the FNippon series in 2000 after failing to maintain his seat in F1. Winning eight of ten races on his way to the series title led to the opportunity to join Walker Racing's CART effort in 2001 and 2002.

"We are looking forward to providing Tora with the resources and environment necessary to compete at this level," said Nunn, "A lot of people were surprised at how Felipe excelled in our programme, but I can tell you we were not. We knew he could achieve the kind of results he did this year, and we feel very much the same way in our evaluation of Tora and his potential. I am very pleased that Pioneer has elected to continue their sponsorship of our team, as they are one sponsor that really gets behind their programme and their ongoing support of our team is a real plus."

The 16-event 2003 Indy Racing League schedule opens on 2 March at Homestead.