Castroneves leads four Penske entries at Indy.

Penske Racing has filed four entries for the 2003 Indianapolis 500, including one assigned to two-time race winner Helio Castroneves, who will attempt to become the only driver ever to win 'the greatest spectacle in racing' three years in a row.

Penske also filed an entry for a car to be driven by two-time CART series champion and two-time Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race winner Gil de Ferran, and two entries with drivers to be named later.

Castroneves will pilot the #3 Marlboro Team Penske entry, and the currently sidelined de Ferran his regular #6 car. The additional entries are numbered 66 and 68, which are the numbers de Ferran and Castroneves carried, respectively, when Penske returned to the 500 in 2001 after a six-year hiatus. Castroneves won and de Ferran finished second in 2001, only 1.7373secs behind. Castroneves also triumphed last year in a controversial finish with Team Green's Paul Tracy.

All four of Penske Racing's entries list Dallara chassis as the primary car and Panoz G Force chassis as the backup. All Penske entries are powered by Toyota engines and have Firestone tires.

"Our current plan is to run two cars in the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500," said Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing Inc, "By having four entries, we have given ourselves further flexibility relative to our chassis selection. As is typical of our organisation, we are prepared to do what it takes to provide our sponsors, drivers and team the best opportunity to win 'the greatest spectacle in racing'."

Rick Rinaman is chief mechanic for Castroneves' entry, while Matt Jonsson is chief mechanic for de Ferran's entry. Tom Wurtz is team manager for all four Penske cars.

Joining Penske in the avalanche of entries on 2 April were Access Motorsports, which filed an entry to be driven by team co-owner Greg Ray; Red Bull Cheever Racing, which filed two entries for Indy rookie Buddy Rice and a driver to be announced; Target Chip Ganassi Racing, which filed a third entry with driver to be announced; and Beck Motorsports, which also filed an entry with a driver to be announced.

Ray, the 1999 IndyCar Series champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 MBNA Pole Award winner, will drive the #13 Trim Spa Special Panoz G-Force-Honda for Access Motorsports. The new team, which also entered an identical back-up car, has extensive IndyCar Series experience, including team manager Ted Bitting and chief mechanic Jamie Nanny.

Red Bull Cheever Racing named talented youngster Rice to drive the #52 Red Bull Cheever Racing Chevrolet Dallara-Chevrolet, while an identical #51 car with no driver named is expected to be fielded for team owner Eddie Cheever Jr, who has expressed a desire to contest one more Indy 500 before probable retirement. He carried the #51 on his car when he won the 500 in 1998.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing, which became the first team to enter the 2003 Indianapolis 500 when it filed entries for cars to be driven by Tomas Scheckter and Scott Dixon, filed a third entry for the #33 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz G-Force-Toyota. The car has an identical back-up but, as yet, no named driver.

Beck Motorsports entered car #54 with a Dallara-Honda package and an identical backup. Greg Robb is team manager, and Tom Bose is chief mechanic but, like Ganassi, did not file a driver for the seat. CART refugee Shinji Nakano is expected to drive for the team at Motegi next weekend, and could be on the list of possibles for Indy.

Entries for the 87th running of the 500 had to be postmarked by midnight 2 April to be considered for the race and, as a result, the Indy Racing League expects to receive several more entries via mail in the coming days. After nine entries arrived at the Indy Racing League office 1 April, a total of eleven entries were filed 2 April.