Taylor 'delighted' with Access deal.

Despite being with the smallest and least well-funded team on the IRL IndyCar Series grid, Briton Mark Taylor has pronounced himself 'delighted' to have joined forces with Access Motorsports for the remaining nine races on the 2004 IRL schedule.

"I am delighted to be back in the IRL with Access Motorsports for the rest of this season," said Taylor, who has replaced Access co-owner Greg Ray in the cockpit of the #13 G Force-Honda. "I have already had my seat fitting and the team are very committed to achieving some good results in the nine races we have left to run."

Taylor's stint with Access begins this Saturday night at Nashville and, as Ray pointed out, hard work by some sponsors on this side of the pond are the ones who helped make this deal possible.

"We have been working with University Loft, one of our sponsors, in establishing many new distribution networks in the U.S. and Internationally," stated Ray, who captured the 1999 IRL IndyCar Series crown. "University Lofts distribution partners in Europe and the UK are very excited and have been instrumental in creating this opportunity for Mark and the Access Motorsports Team."

Despite missing the last event in Kansas, Taylor, who won seven Infiniti Pro Series races in 2004 en-route to the title, currently lies 3rd in the IRL Rookie Championship standings, just 44 points behind Kosuke Matsuura and 15 points behind Ed Carpenter. With 50 points available for victory and nine races in hand, Taylor is still within reach of the RotY title.

"I would like to thank Greg Ray very much for this opportunity and look forward to racing with the team from this weekend in Nashville," he concluded.