Malaysian F1 driver Alex Yoong is set to turn his back on the sport and join a top FedEx CART Championship team. Yoong was the first Malaysian to compete in Formula One but endured a nightmare full season at Minardi this year when he failed to qualify three times and was replaced by Britain's Anthony Davidson.
He denied rumours earlier this year that he was on the verge of giving up the sport but after Minardi boss Paul Stoddart decided not to offer him a race seat for 2003, he has been forced reconsider.
Stoddart has offered him a testing role at the cash-strapped team but Yoong has rejected that offer, as he doesn't expect Minardi to do much testing this season, and instead will make the switch to CART.
"We are very close to signing with a winning CART team. The moment this is done we'll have to get the release from Minardi and we'll move on from there. A year's testing would do me good for sure, but I do not believe Minardi will be testing much in 2003. I feel a year's racing would be better and am looking forward to CART. Also the fact that there is a chance to win races instead of racing at the back is very attractive to me," he said on his personal website.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
