ASCAR: Toby Scheckter signs with ASCAR

Toby Scheckter is the latest star driver to join the 170mph, 'Days of Thunder' -style ASCAR oval racing series. The 22 year-old son of the 1979 Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter will drive a 500 horsepower American V8 racing saloon prepared by last year's Champions Torquespeed in the series, which races at Rockingham in England and EuroSpeedway in Germany.

Scheckter, who was at one time tipped to follow his father into Formula One, won the EFDA Euroseries Championship in 1999 with a record eight wins and seven pole positions. He was a front runner in the Spanish Formula Nissan International Series, before switching to saloon cars for the first time in the German V8 Star series last year.

Scheckter will gain his first experience of ASCAR at Rockingham next week when, despite his experience, he undergoes 'rookie' training. This is mandatory for all new drivers, in order to for them to gain experience of the additional demands posed by racing on the banked ovals

ASCAR reaffirmed its international reputation this week with a highly successful series of initial tests at the EuroSpeedway track near Dresden in Germany. The track's 'tri-oval' configuration with long straights and three demanding corners saw a maximum speed reached of 175mph, by the Ford Taurus of former World Hot Rod Champion John Steward. The fastest overall lap of 51.8 seconds, set by reigning ASCAR champion John Mickel, equates to an average of 139mph.

The test at EuroSpeedway also gave the French former Formula One and ChampCar driver Nicolas Minassian his first experience of the cars, joined by German stars Arnt Meier and Roland Rehfeld. Reigning British Touring Car Champion Jason Plato was also in attendance.

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