2004 OWRS Champ Car Line-Up ?!?!

[BootsOntheSide]

RuSport seem to ahve gone quiet recently, and we know that one of their top engineers has left, so I wouldn't count that particular chicken yet.

Does anyone know where Camathias' new funding has come form, considering that he dropped out early last year? And isn't it a shame that Enge can't get a ride with someone better than Coyne?

[macdaddy]

From CART.com...

http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=7488

Adrian Fernandez:
"It has been a long off-season this time around, and an emotional rollercoaster for a lot of people. I want to thank Quaker State, Telmex and Tecate for their patience and continued support."

Tom Anderson:
"Now that we have a direction to focus on, we can begin our efforts on a program to field a second car this year."

[zerO]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
RuSport seem to ahve gone quiet recently, and we know that one of their top engineers has left, so I wouldn't count that particular chicken yet.

Russo has found another engineer and the Allmendinger thingy will be announced shortly - not only it's 100% guaranteed, but AJ has more miles testing this off-season than any other driver in Champ Cars ?!

btw, Mario Haberfeld is testing with Conquest - so there still is a possibility of this team returning this year !!!

zerO

[norman-normal]

RuSport needs engineers who know champ cars. Also a senior engineer has a vast knowlege of a car may not be likely to want to stuff it all and start on a new vehicle, in compition with younger men.

[macdaddy]

Didn't said RuSport engineer bolt for Rocketsports?
Or am I remembering incorrectly?
This would bode well for PG's second car, but it would also seem surprising in that he shouldn't want to thwart new teams.

[Dov]

If I remember correctly, RuSport's engineer did leave the team, but it was an engineer from Herdez Competition who bolted to RocketSports....

[zerO]

Line-up update:

As we're nearing the "Grand Opening" many teams are scrambling to finalize their programs. Here's some latest developements:

1. Jimmy Vasser will be at PK racing = http://www.crash.net/uk/en/news_view...id=3&nid=85647

2. Mika Salo will be at FITTIPALDI Racing partnering Tiago Monteiro = http://www.italiaracing.net/news_cha...ews.asp?id=466 - in Italian, sorry

3. Ralph Firman Sr has bought all leftover Reynards from Walker and is putting a team together for his son Ralph Firman Jr who just lost out on the last remaining seat in F1 at Jordan.

4. Jos Verstappen is now rumored as the most likely candidate for the new Forsythe's "McDonald's Championship Racing Team".

Here's a look at a possible line-up:

1. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - Patrick Carpentier
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira
5. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
6. HERDEZ - Ricardo Sperafico
7. FERNANDEZ - Adrian Fernandez or Ryan Hunter-Reay ?
8. FERNANDEZ - David Martinez or Mario Haberfeld ?
9. FITTIPALDI - Mika Salo
10. FITTIPALDI - Tiago Monteiro
11. POLLOCK/KALKHOVEN - Jimmy Vasser
12. POLLOCK/KALKHOVEN - Roberto Gonzalez
13. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
14. GENTILOZZI - Rayn Hunter-Reay or Jos Verstappen ?
15. WALKER - Michael Valiante
16. RAHAL - Michael Jourdain
17. COYNE - Michael Keohane or Joel Camathias ?
18. BACHELART - Mario Haberfeld or Nelson Philippe ?
19. RUSSO - A.J. Allmendinger

Possibles:

20. FORSYTHE - Jos Verstappen ?
21. WALKER - Jonathan Macri or Jos Verstappen ?
22. WALKER/FIRMAN - Ralph Firman
23. RAHAL - Justin Wilson ?
24. COYNE - Alex Yoong or Alex Camathias ?
25. RUSSO - Oriol Servia ?

On March 8th we will see most of the cars unveiled at the Long Beach "CCWS Preview" ?!

Things are looking up much better than they did last year at this time ?!

btw, check out my updated picturesque line-up page = http://www.planet.nl/~f1/cart2k4.htm

zerO

[macdaddy]

Things are looking up much better than they did last year at this time!

Thanks for the rumour update, zerO!
Although I think RHR is much more likely at Rocketsports than is Jos Verstappen.

[Tenoch]

Just finished reading the italian artycle also confirms that Roberto Gonzalez will be his teamate at PK racing.

[BootsOntheSide]

Roll on March 8th I guess. There will probably be mroe surprise announcements before then. The important thing is that teams are well-funded and get some testing done.

[SurfaceUnits]

Well, Forsythe definately has a third car/driver lined up but it isn't Verstappen.

[Dov]

It better not be Lavin!!!

[steve nielsen]

15. WALKER - Michael Valiante


is this serious??

[Andy Roberts]

http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=7525

Looks like RuSport and AJ will def be in CART this year! Congrats to AJ and hope you have a storming year!

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by steve nielsen
15. WALKER - Michael Valiante


is this serious??

Why would it not be?

[Liz]

Because he's not an American?

[SurfaceUnits]

How difficult would it be to get B.C. to break away?

[steve nielsen]

Originally posted by Kicking-back
Why would it not be?

I was thinking about this guy

[Kicking-back]

Well, the one you're thinking of did do Le Mans a couple of years ago, so maybe they can both get a Champ Car drive!

[power&glory]

My guesses:

Forsythe:Tracy, Carpentier, Lavin (Corona)

N/H:Junqueira, Bourdais

Rahal:Jourdain, Wilson (what better way for Ford to keep
Justin in the family?)

Fernandez:Fernandez, Diaz (his Mex. City '03 sponsors,
assoc. roles from Tecate, QSMex)

Rocketsports:Tagliani, Hunter-Reay

PK:Vasser, Gonzalez (Patrick Racing has basically become 2nd PK car;looks like Emmo outa luck)

Herdez: Dominguez, Salo

RuSport:Allmendinger

Conquest:Haberfeld, Philippe

Coyne:Enge, 2nd car (too many possible names!)

Walker:Valiante (OWRS money), maybe 2nd car if last minute
things come together like they did a year ago

Mo Nunn:dunno who would drive, but I still believe that Hollywood desire to be with Mo Nunn Racing, but
pulled back IRL sponsorship because they
just aren't fulfilling marketing objectives in
IRL; they were a happy sponsor for long time in
CART, and it would make sense if they would want
to be back there. I know this is a little bit of
crazy idea, but I still wouldn't rule it out.

So basically I think were looking at 21-23 well-funded cars, with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions, which, all things considered, really isn't all that bad.

[Muzza]

Hello, power&glory,

The chances ôf Hollywood sponsoring a car in ChampCars are extremely slim, at very best.

Regards,


Muzza

[power&glory]

Yeah, muzza, i knda figured that too, but, i dunno, it just sorta seemed like they were happy in CART for so long, and it was only after the switch to the other series that they started to complain...well, whatever, it was a pretty far out on a limb concept, anyway. But does anybody think Mo Nunn will come back this year? I know that he went over there in there first place because the IRL ensured him strong financial stablity from Toyota and his sponsors, so...oh hell, i just think he's a real cool guy and i wanna see him back in this series, that's all

[Tenoch]

I was wondering if you guys knew what was going on with Emerson Fitapaldi?

[BootsOntheSide]

Fitipalid-Dingman appears to have folded; I beleive James Dingman has taken Emmo to court. Emerson is still keen to continue and is scrambling around to find a partnership. Something sponsorhsip-related may come about. Lavin was originally linekd to taking his Corona money there, which is still possible but unlikely if he gets a Forsythe or Newman-Haas offer. Emmo was the last to get a car on track last year, and hopefully history will repeat itself. Montiero's still in the hunt for the drive, but sponsorship may force him out.

[Tim Northcutt]

Walker sold his "extra equipment?"

Is that how he will get capital to race???

He's not going to get the big "subsidy" to run a team this year...allegedly...

I have to wonder exacvtly what is going on here...