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Patrick Racing announced that Jan Magnussen will replace PJ Jones in the #20 Visteon/Patrick Racing Ford-Cosworth at the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit, August 6-8, on the temporary Belle Isle street circuit in Detroit, Michigan.
"We are running Jan Magnussen at the Detroit Grand Prix in an effort to determine exactly where we are in developing the Swift chassis," said U. E. "Pat" Patrick. "Jan is a logical choice for the Visteon/Patrick Racing team because of his testing and developmental experience in Formula One, and because of his relationship with Visteon in both Formula One and the American Le Mans Series. This is not a reflection on the driving ability of PJ Jones. In fact, if things work out to our satisfaction, we hope to see him in the car before the end of the season."
Magnussen, 26, is currently competing in the American Le Mans Series. He has one win, Mosport, and last weekend finished third in Portland to move into a tie for fifth place in the championship standings with 65 points. The native of Denmark, who will continue to compete in the American Le Mans Series, tested for Patrick Racing at Mid-Ohio July 27-28. He is currently testing at Gateway International Raceway.
"We were very pleased with the feedback we got from Jan during his test in Mid-Ohio," said Patrick Racing General Manager Jim McGee. "As we continue our development of the Swift chassis we feel that Jan's impute and feedback will be very valuable."
Magnussen spent 1997 and part of 1998 driving for the Stewart Grand Prix team in Formula One. He competed in four CART races during the 1996 season replacing the injured Paul Tracy at Mid-Ohio for Marlboro Team Penske, and then taking over for Emerson Fittipaldi at Hogan Racing for the final three races of the season following Fittipaldi's career ending accident at Michigan. In his four CART starts, Magnussen's best qualifying position is 10th (Elkhart Lake) and his best finish is eighth (Laguna Seca).
"It's a great opportunity for me to be able to join a team the caliber of Patrick Racing," said Magnussen. "My goal when I came to the United States was to get back into Champ Cars. To be able to do it with the Visteon/Patrick Racing team is a great feeling. It won't be a totally new situation for me because I have raced Champ Cars before. Also, I know a lot of the people from Visteon because I raced for them in Formula One and in the American Le Mans Series. It has been a little while since I was in Champ Cars, but after a few laps of testing I felt very comfortable."
Magnussen started his career in go-karts taking the Junior Karting World Championship in 1989 and the Senior title a year later. In 1992, he won the Formula Ford Festival race at Brands Hatch, England. Two years later, Magnussen broke Ayrton Senna's record in the British Formula 3 Championship winning 14 of 18 races for Paul Stewart Racing. He signed with the factory AMG Mercedes team in 1995, driving in the German Touring Car Championship and competed in the International Touring Car series, were he won one race and was the runner-up for the championship. Magnussen's Formula One debut also came in 1995 as a substitute for Mika Hakkinen at McLaren in Aida, Japan, where he finished 10th. In 1996, Magnussen drove for the Mercedes factory in the International Touring Car Championship. He also continued as a test driver for McLaren. and made his CART debut. Magnussen returned to F1 in 1997 with Stewart Grand Prix.
Source: Patrick Racing
