IPS: Prendeville joins Andersen.

Andrew Prendeville will be one of Andersen Racing's two full-time drivers in its first season of Indy Pro Series competition, having inked a deal to graduate to the Indycar feeder series.

Prendeville is no stranger to the team, having worked with it in the past. The combination finished second in the 2004 Formula Ford 2000 Zetec national championships, a success that followed on from Prendeville's victory in the 2002 SCCA Formula Continental national championship.

"We're very pleased to be working with Andrew again, as we think he's not only a quality driver, but also a quality person," team owner Dan Andersen said, "We haven't forgotten the maturity he showed when he finished second in the F2000 series in 2004 - his car suffered a bent suspension piece in the season finale. He ended up just 16 points shy of Bobby Wilson in the driver point standings that year, through no fault of his own, but he took it like a champion."

Wilson went on to win the race that day at Road America, while Wade Cunningham, the 2005 Indy Pro Series champion, finished second Wilson and Prendeville will face off again this season, with the former having signed for Brian Stewart Racing.

"Andrew is excited about getting in the car and racing against some of the drivers he competed with in F2000, like Bobby and Chris Festa," John Andersen added, "It will be especially exciting for everyone in the North-east, because he's a Jersey boy."

Prendeville drove an Indy Pro Series car for the first time earlier this week, passing his rookie test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the IPS season opens on 24 March.

"Bobby beat me for that championship in 2004, so running against him again will give me high motivation," he said, "But the challenges are the same no matter who shows up at a race. You have to try to beat them all. I'm looking forward to having a full-season ride, and being back running in a championship. I had two years off, and I'm really looking forward to just the overall competition."

Prendeville added that he's also looking forward to working with the Cape brothers, who will prepare his car after linking up with the Andersen operation this year.

"They're very capable, and I think we'll have a good time working together," he said, "We should be able to get competitive. How long it'll take, I don't know, but I'm just looking forward to working with them. They ran Bobby Wilson in F2000 in '04 - it's a small world."

Prendeville also is looking forward to the series' three races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, although many of the tracks will be new to him this year.

"It will be a dream come true to get the chance to compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway," he said, "I've been to four or five Indy 500s, and before that I watched them on TV. It's always been a dream of mine to run at the Speedway.

"I've raced at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio a number of times - I won the Run-offs at Mid-Ohio in 2002 - and I ran at Infineon once, but I haven't been to many of the other ones."

The team plans to announce the name of another full-season Indy Pro Series driver for 2007 shortly.