Medeiros to drive PDM entry at Indy.

IRL IndyCar Series stalwarts PDM Racing have announced that former Indy Pro Series Champion Thiago Medeiros will lead their annual assault on the Indianapolis 500.

The Brazilian born 2004 IPS Champion, who currently drives for PDM in the USAC Silver Crown Series, looks like getting nearly a full month of practice for what will be his first Indy 500 start after PDM also announced sponsors STP and Royal Spa for their 2006 efforts.

Medeiros will take the wheel of PDM's familiar #18 Dallara-Honda and was understandably overwhelmed at his opportunity having failed to land a ride in 2005 despite dominating the IPS Series in 2004.

"This is unbelievable," beamed the Sao Paulo born driver. "I knew that the guys were working on something for the '500,' but never thought it was for me. I am very thankful to everyone involved in putting this together."

Even though Medeiros has prior experience of the 2.5-mile Indianapolis and won the 2004 Freedom 100 he wasn't underestimating the challenge of learning the track in an IRL machine.

"I plan to work my way up to speed, and not rush into getting fast right away," he continued. "Even though we won't be out until the second week of practice, that will still be enough time to get comfortable."

"We have been building a great relationship with Thiago over the past several months through our Silver Crown programme, and we couldn't be happier to have him drive for PDM this month at Indy," stated PDM President Paul Diatlovich. "We have been working on Thiago's programme for some time without his knowledge of it, which was very difficult to do considering the amount of time that he likes to spend in the shop. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised."