[Racer Duck]

Formula One debutant team Force India today confirmed F1 veteran Giancarlo Fisichella to lead its driving team in 2008. The Italian, who celebrates his 35th birthday January 14th, joins German Adrian Sutil, who held onto his seat despite the newly formed Indian team having a wealth of experienced job-shopping F1 drivers from whom to choose. Vitantonio Liuzzi was designated team test driver.

Fisichella joins his new ride from Renault after a less than rousing season as lead driver in defense of the team's constructors' title. Renault finished third behind Ferrari and BMW Sauber after McLaren Mercedes were eliminated from consideration for off-track irregularities. Fisichella placed eighth in the drivers' competition.

"The Force India Formula One Team is a serious project and we wanted to make a statement to this effect with our driver line-up," chairman and managing director Vijay Mallya said. "Money is not the issue now: We need drivers who will push the team and give us direction. The race line-up of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil is a very good one, balancing both speed and experience, and Tonio will provide the team with solid support in his testing program. I think we have a very strong driver line-up for 2008."

Sutil, who finished 19th in the 2007 drivers' competition was the number two driver when he scored the only point last year for Dutch team Spyker, Force India's previous incarnation. Spyker had been Midland and Jordan before that.

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