Any seats left in CART??

[steve nielsen]

Just wondering, with Jos Verstappen not taking the Jordan F1 offer, could there be a seat for him left in CART( with several millions in sponsorship)

[MLM]

At this point, I'd say anything is possible. We're not even too sure if Haberfeld will be around, if RHR will be at KK or Rocketsports or Herdez, or the status of the Fittipaldi/Patrick/KK deal.

Stayed tuned until next week.

[Jordi]

Well, with sponsorship he should have it easy...

[Testure]

I think Jos might have the same problem as Alex Yoong had, in that his sponsors weren't as eager to see him in CART as in F1. Depends on whether Trust have much of a presence in US/Canada/Mexico. I don't think they do, but I think Jos could make a decent impression in ChampCar.

[The Snout]

Yeah, just because Jos gets $15-20 million (or whatever it is) for F1, doesn't translate that he gets exactly the same amount available if he tries Champcar. But if he doesn't get F1 for sure he might take a look.

[f1manoz]

There are seats available, it just depends if the Dutch sponsors want exposure in North America...

[Snrub]

It would be great if Jos came over to CART. If he brought $1/2M in sponsorship then he'd be a shoe in.

[tanalised]

Be nice to see if he can drive something else rather than a backmarker in F1

[gomick]

would be good - thought jos earnt about 7 or 8 million a year himself.... he could pay for his own ride

[BootsOntheSide]

There are definately seats available to someone who can bring funding. RHR probably has the second Rocketsports car, but Fitipaldi may have seats available (although Motniero and Lavin are favourites), PK's second driver hasn't been named, a third Newman-Haas is possible, Conquest could be back, and Walker and Coyne are definate options.

[Muzza]

In my humble opinion Rodolfo Lavin is pretty low on Fittipaldi's list of priorities.

[gttouring]

speaking of fittipaldi- has anyone heard his lawsuit "victory" over Helio castro Neves? for 3.1 million USdollars.?? apparently HCN signed with penske while Fittipaldi was representing him, and it was a breach of some agent contract, it seems like love is lost there!
http://sports.iwon.com/news/02072004/v0741.html

[SurfaceUnits]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Can we expect to see an Australian driver in the series next year?

PG; We’d love to have one. Kevin and I have had lengthy discussions with your Prime Minister and other politicians there and I’ll let Kevin talk a little more but we have talked very much to that point and we’re very anxious to do that.

KK: Peter, as you remember we talked about this during the Surfers race. Obviously I had to wait until literally two days ago before I could start to work actively on that but I am committed to finding a national driver from Australia and taking him up certainly through the Atlantic ranks and then hopefully having a ride in Champ Cars very quickly. You know, one of the things that make an international series work well is when you’ve got drivers from each of those countries. One of the great successes in Mexico is our great Mexican drivers, clearly Canada is the same. We have U.S. drivers and new U.S. drivers coming in. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see a Wallaby coming in.

[macdaddy]

Pook was saying the exact same thing.

[SurfaceUnits]

Pook got his Brit over here, let's see if KK can do as well

[mountainstar]

I remember hearing last year that Trust was looking to expand into the northamerican market, so you never know if that would help Joz to get a seat in CART. Obviously the dollars involved would not be as much, but probably enough to seal a deal with someone.