Manning deserves better!

[Dov]

Standings after Molson Indy Toronto

Driver Championship Overall Road Oval
Points Standings

1 Paul Tracy 139 137 2
2 Bruno Junqueira 124 112 12
3 Michel Jourdain Jr. 113 78 35
4 Patrick Carpentier 88 68 20
5 Sebastien Bourdais (R) 86 60 26
6 Oriol Servia 76 50 26
7 Adrian Fernandez 69 61 8
8 Mario Dominguez 62 41 21
9 Alex Tagliani 51 41 10
10 Darren Manning (R) 50 30 20
11 Mario Haberfeld (R) 41 35 6
12 Roberto Moreno 39 36 3
13 Jimmy Vasser 38 31 7
14 Tiago Monteiro (R) 18 15 3
15 Ryan Hunter-Reay (R) 16 14 2
16 Patrick Lemarie (R) 8 8 0
17 Joel Camathias (R) 6 6 0
18 Rodolfo Lavin (R) 6 2 4
19 Alex Yoong (R) 4 4 0
20 Bryan Herta 2 2 0
21 Max Papis 1 1 0

Darren has been running and finishing in the top ten in almost every race so far this year (8 out of 10). St. Pete's - P13/Mexico - P7/Long Beach - P8/Brands Hatch - P10/Germany - P6/Milwaukee - P4/Laguna Seca - P18/Portland - P6/Cleveland - P10/Toronto - P8

As the season is progressing Darren's performance is impressing me more and more. He's fast and getting faster, races hard, but clean and he drives smoothly. I am convinced if Manning were driving a Lola chassis and he had a good race engineer (not saying his current engineer isn't adequate), he would be finishing in the top six on a regular basis and once in awhile in the top three. I also hear that he is one hell of a nice guy too.....very down to earth and enjoys his job. I am quickly becoming a Darren Manning fan.

[Liz]

For an excellent interview and photos of Darren in action, go to www.rfmsports.com where Jay's excellent interview is now posted. He's a very interesting guy and enthusiastic about CART, and has some thoughtful comparisons between the F1 cars and the CART wagons. (This will be in the newsletter next week.)

The most encouraging thing is that he considers CART to be a career stop, not a whistle stop on the way to some other series.

[BootsOntheSide]

Darren has been highly impressive, often the best Reyanrd qualifier ahead of Vasser, is well clear of him in the table, and he's been especially impressive on the ovals.

He may be as good as Bourdais, when you consdier the differnece in their cars and teams, and Darren's lack of mistakes, and the testing he missed pre-season.

[enemy-ace]

I have to say I am becoming quite a fan of Manning myself. He's always one of the drivers I take note of how he did in pre-race practice and the like. In interviews as well he comes across as quite genuine. All that said he seems to be quite quick in that Reynard as well. Let's hope he can start moving up the grid and onto the podium.

[PenelopePitstop]

Has he got a drive next? I seem to remember reading that both Walker racing seats for next year had gone to drivers bringing there sponser to the team.

[Liz]

He speaks as if he is settled for next season and mentions in the interview that they will be better funded next season.

[Jay]

He was a good interview, if not a bit chatty. I get the feeling his people are always having to pull him away from place to place, fan to fan as he is not one to turn anyone down. Definately an asset to the series, so I hope he can get a better car/setup or whatever to move up the order.

[gttouring]

manning is quite good, i wish his car would be stronger, because he is carzy when he sees a chance.

[norman-normal]

If there really is a GOD, Darren and Junky will trade seats

[Raven]

He's doing well, but come on... Haberfeld is in a Reynard, plus a new team and he's only 9 points behind Darren.

Apart from Vasser, and maybe Moreno (based on history), Darren is beating no-one of serious significance.

Moreno has for the most part been outperfomed by Dominguez and Vasser is with a brand new outfit. With Walker, they at least have data to draw from, and lets not forget a few years ago how competitive Gil de Ferran was with Walker.

Now I'm not trying to put Manning down, I was happy as Larry to see him get a well-deserved break into the series. He deserves to be out there and has done a good job, but nothing more, IMO.

[Jay]

Darren is beating everone that has the same car. I'm very confident that if he were in the Newmann-Haas car he'd be doing as well as Junqueira or Bourdais have been.

[Raven]

I wouldn't be confident of that at all.

[Dov]

I would!

[Jay]

He's consistently been the highest Reynard, with no experience at every track (unlike the ASTJ pilots) and no setups to start out with (the old Walker ones from Takagi and such don't work with his driving style at all). I think he's done quite well given that.

[f1manoz]

Darren has been doing a great job. Keeping his nose clean, often bringing the car home for good points, outshining experienced pilots in the same car, dicing with series veterans. Job well done. Walker should be very happy.

[Liz]

The former Walker driver Gil de Ferran had an absolute slug of a car when he drove for Walker and set a record for futility with 12 DNFs in one season. I can't imagine that would be of much help to Manning even if their driving styles were similar. The team did a heroic job with the money they had available and they seem to be very pleased to have not only a good driver and hard worker, but a fan-friendly and easy to work with gentleman to help them with the business part of their task.

[oily oaf]

Yep Darren is doing a good job with limited resources and I can verify he is a genuinely good guy having had a brief chat with him at Rockingham last season. He also co-presents a motoring tv show on Brit telly (5th Gear) where his cheerful personality really comes over well. But give him time to learn his trade at Walker it is unrealistic to suggest he's fast tracked to one of the big boys just yet, it would put pressure on him to suceed almost right away and could detract from the learning curve that he's on at the moment. Give him time and he's one for the future.