Stoddart confirms Champ Car plans

Stoddart, who sold the Minardi team to Red Bull at the end of last season, described entering next season's Champ Car World Series as "very feasible", but was keen to stress that putting the deals together was still some way off.

Stoddart told Autosport: "Yes, the rumours do have some credibility, but we are still in the very early stages.

"However, what excites me is that Champ Car has moved almost entirely to street and road courses, and away from ovals, and has made itself into the most spectator-friendly top level race series."

He also confirmed that should the team take off, it would be with the financial backing of Muerman's Group, a property investor and developer originating in the Netherlands and has expanded to the USA, Germany and Belgium.

Muerman's currently supports Belgium's Jan Heylen in Champ Cars.

The company also sponsors Red Bull Racing's third driver Robert Doornbos and Stoddart admitted that the Dutchman would be on the list of candidates for a drive with his proposed Champ Car team.

He added: "Robert would be on it, as would any good quality driver worth experience such as one who has driven for Minardi in F1. Bas Leinders is another and Zsolt Baumgartner.

"However, we don't need to decide on drivers yet: we need to sort out whether there is going to be a team and we need to have that done by October."