Target to leave IndyCar after 2016

American discount retailer Target have announced they will be ending their iconic partnership with Chip Ganassi racing at the end of 2016 after 27 seasons together.

The Minneapolis firm has been with Ganassi since 1990, backing legendary drivers including Eddie Cheever, Jimmy Vassr, Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti, and current champion Scott Dixon, winning four Indianapolis 500s and 11 championship titles - including six of the last eight.

Dixon will see out the year in the red of Target while the team search for a replacement primary sponsor.

"It's the greatest sponsor in racing, ever," Chip Ganassi said. "They've been nothing but good to me. They developed me personally and professionally. I've developed lifelong friends and relationships. I understand things change and people have different marketing efforts, and the way they want to stamp their name on things."

"But it's one of the longest running sponsors in racing and they delivered for me and the team, and the team delivered for them."

Read more on our mobile websiteSpeculation of Target's departure has been rife for some time, with the company scaling back their involvement from two cars to just one prior to last season. Paddock speculation picked up in recent weeks to the point where rival teams were faced with convincing their own sponsors to stay in the wake of the impending departure of arguable the biggest backer in the series.

"It was a really difficult decision that we made — we've been with Chip Ganassi Racing for 27 years and we are ridiculously proud of the success," said Target senior vice president of merchandising Scott Nygaard. "But the Target brand is about being fresh and new, so we felt like this was the time to make the difficult decision and expand our sports marketing platform."

Target will remain the primary sponsor of Ganassi's #42 NASCAR Sprint Cup entry driven by Kyle Larson.