IndyCar: Wade Cunningham to run partial schedule

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Former 2005 Indy Lights champion Wade Cunningham will run a partial IndyCar campaign along with Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM) for the 2011 season.

That means that, for the first time since 2002, SSM will compete in IndyCar rounds outside of the Indianapolis 500 with the double-header in Texas plus the Las Vegas and Kentucky rounds.

Cunningham won the Lights championship in 2005 but his only taste of IndyCar since then has been a test with Andretti Green in 2007. The 26-year-old New Zealander has only rode a Dallara-Honda that one time.

Schmidt also intends to run Townsend Bell and Jay Howard at the Indianapolis 500, and is keen to expand Bell's programme to additional races.