Canada’s James Hinchcliffe will sign a deal today to take over from Danica Patrick in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Dallara at Andretti Autosport for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season.
In an interview with USA Today’s Nate Ryan, Hinchcliffe joked “I’m stepping into her heels, if you will.”
It is the opportunity of a lifetime for Hinchcliffe — last season’s IndyCar rookie of the year.
The 25-year-old said that his bubbly personality probably had a lot to do with his being picked to pilot the coveted ride.
“A lot of drivers, because of sponsors, get forced to hold back their personalities, and some really good characters get stifled because they’re supposed to stick to a certain image,” he said. “I’m not that, and now I’ve got a sponsor that’s edgy and encourages that kind of personality. It just makes so much sense. We can do a lot of fun stuff together.”
Details of the deal are expected to be released later.
It was a job that had previously been pencilled in for Dan Wheldon, before his tragic death at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the final race of the 2011 season.
“There’s no doubt that weighed on me from the first phone call,” Hinchcliffe told USA Today. “It’s pretty common knowledge Dan was a shoe-in with Go Daddy and Andretti. I look at Dan Wheldon as a tremendous race car driver and a champion but also a tremendous person and human being. And if that’s the guy that Go Daddy wanted, to know that I was the next guy in line and thought of along the same lines is an incredibly humbling thing, and it makes me really proud. I’m going to think about him every time I get in that car. There’s no doubt that a part of me will be driving for Dan this year.”