Perera lands Indy Lights ride

Franck Perera

Franck Perera, the 23 year old native of Montpellier, France, will jump back into action to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights series for the remainder of the 2008 season. Watch out for this young gun to make an immediate impression in the IRL as he has already done so impressively in his career to date.

Perera's astonishing resume stems from deep roots in European open-wheel racing where he won the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2003 and went on to compete against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock in both the F3 Euro Series (Rookie Champion 2004) and the GP2 Series (Runner-up to Hamilton at Monaco 2006). Franck was also a member of the exclusive Toyota Driver Program and was entrusted with testing Toyota’s Formula One car on several occasions.

Going into 2007, Perera decided to move to the U.S. and attack the highly competitive Atlantic Championship. He literally rewrote the record books on his way to the Rookie of the Year title and narrowly missed out on the overall title to series returnee Raphael Matos.

Perera's achievements did not go unnoticed as he secured a ride for the former Champ Car and current IndyCar team Conquest Racing. Franck competed in three races for the team demonstrating his outstanding road course skills by finishing a solid 6th at Long Beach, which was his final race before his sponsor ran into financial trouble and was unable to continue their support of the young Frenchmen. He also proved to be a quick learner after finishing a commendable 14th in his first ever oval race.

Franck will team up at Guthrie Racing with Sean Guthrie, Logan Gomez and Mickey Gilbert for the rest of the 2008 season.

“I'm just excited to be back in the driver’s seat," Perera said. “I'm very thankful to Guthrie Racing and my management company CJ Motorsport and I am going to do the best I can for the team."

Starting at the seventh race into the season, Perera is not worried about the Drivers Championship, but rather building oval experience and fighting for podiums and wins.

“I’m not really focusing on the Title at this stage. I'm just looking at it race by race so I will not be holding back at any of the races! I hope to get some wins on the road courses since that's where my experience lies, but I plan on being right up there in the front on ovals as well after I get some more practice."