2005 Portland Grand Prix Team & Driver Line-Up???

[mabs_nsx]

This is how the 2005 Portland Grand Prix Team & Driver Line-Up will probably look:

Newman/Haas Racing


#1 Sebastien Bourdais (FRA)



#2 Oriol Servia (ESP)


Forsythe Championship Racing


#3 Paul Tracy (CDN)



#7 Mario Dominguez (MEX)


HVM Racing


#4 Björn Wirdheim (SWE)



#55 Ronnie Bremer (DEN)


Team Australia Racing


#5 Marcus Marshall (AUS)



#15 Alexandre Tagliani (CDN)


RocketSports Racing


#8 Timo Glock (GER)



#31 Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA)


RüSPORT


#9 Justin Wilson (GBR)



#10 A.J. Allmendinger (USA)


Dale Coyne Racing


#11 Ricardo Sperafico (BRA)



#19 ????? ??????? (???)


PKV Racing


#12 Jimmy Vasser (USA)




#21 Cristiano da Matta (BRA)


Conquest Racing


#27 Andrew Ranger (CDN)



#34 Nelson Philippe (FRA)

Any chance there will be more than 17 or 18 drivers?

[JohnSSC]

None whatsoever - this race does not usually attract one-off drives.

[macdaddy]

There will be 18, as Coyne will once again have two cars on the grid. Oriol may even be back in one of them, we'll just have to wait-and-see.

[Tim Northcutt]

Coyne seemed none too pleaased to find out from another driver who called him about Oriol's seat that Oriol had taken the Newman-Haas offer for last weekend....

Oriol might have that seat with Coyne when his stint with N-H ends, but I wouldn't bet on it....

If I were an owner, I sure wouldn't retain a guy who will jump ship at the first higher offer and leave me high and dry just a few days before an event...

If Bruno would come back before the end of the season, Oriol may be on the outside looking in...

[N I Tram]

They have to have 18 cars acocrding to the contract. There is actually a purpose to this thread, beyond merely showing 17 pretty-but-overly-familiar cars, as we still don't know who will have the NHR car (I still think Gidley or Bell would be better than Servia), or the second Coyne car (I don't think Dale's pulically commented on the situation, but he may not want Oriol back - alternatively he may see this as an excuse to bring in another unknown pay-driver).

[Snrub]

It would be pretty hard to see NH giving Servia the boot:
1. He had no time to familiarize himself with the team.
2. He passed Bourdais.
3. He charged up the field passing a number of cars.
4. His NH car was the fastest on the track. NH claims to have performed pretty average @ Milwaukee, but Servia's tweeks had the car fastest of all.

The only question is who will drive for Coyne? I haven't heard anything, has anyone else? Bell might be a good choice for the series to try out again, but with DCR the driver needs to bring some money.

[StickShift]

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Valiante is selected for the Coyne seat. IIRC, he tested with RuSport at Portland last year, as well, he had a very good test with Coyne at Sebring this year.

[Tenoch]

Roberto Gonzales has been making a lot of noise down here about a possible return, this season so maybe he can be the 18th car.

[macdaddy]

IF Servia stays with N/Haas, then it stands to reason that Dale Coyne's 2nd driver will be the one with the fattest chequebook.

[Snrub]

Originally Posted by Tenoch

Roberto Gonzales has been making a lot of noise down here about a possible return, this season so maybe he can be the 18th car.

Really? I haven't heard anything from him lately, details? Heck I don't know if I've heard anything since last season! He's not the sexiest choice, but truth be told he's pretty competant.

[Tenoch]

I read an interview which was posted on Cart.com Spanish fan Forum, on there he said that originally he was the first choice for the third PKV car at Monterrey but that his personal problems with the the team director impeded that. He says that he has received two new offers to once again come aboard a champ car for the season, one in a third Herdez entry and one in a completely new team.

[BootsOntheSide]

Servia's car at Coyne was fully-sponsored, so theoretically they vcan choose the dirver on talent rather than udget, although there are a few caveats to this. Firstly, AMR may not be happy at having missed the last race, secondly Coyne's budget may have been streched further than anticipated thus far, and thirdly bringing in a pay-driver could theoretically improve the performance of both cars.

[JohnSSC]

Just to clarify my post - I meant that there will not be 19 cars - of course the contractual obligation has to be met.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Servia's car at Coyne was fully-sponsored, so theoretically they vcan choose the dirver on talent rather than udget, although there are a few caveats to this. Firstly, AMR may not be happy at having missed the last race, secondly Coyne's budget may have been streched further than anticipated thus far, and thirdly bringing in a pay-driver could theoretically improve the performance of both cars.

American Medical Response logos moved to Sperifeco's car for Milwaulkee round.
Servia done a great job and yes it would be quite harsh for NHR to drop him, however as has been mentioned here someone like Gidley or Bell could really create some waves.

[Liz]

Mr. Bell is an IRL driver, and with the history between Bruno and Mr. Bell, I don't think that was ever in the cards. I'll be at Le Mans but will be interested to see how things play out with Servia on a road course.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Liz

Mr. Bell is an IRL driver

Townsend Bell has more Champ Car starts than IndyCar starts though...

[Kicking-back]

I don't see drivers as IRL drivers or ChampCar drivers.

Most are racing drivers who will take the best option available to them at the time.

As for "history" between Junqueira and Bell - that's irrelevant.

It's no business of Bruno Junqueira who Newman Haas choose to put in the car.

[BootsOntheSide]

By dismissing Bell as an IRL driver, you are doing a lot to widen the rift between the 2 championships, and further damage open-wheel's position and the chance of a merger. Townsend Bell is a young, marketable, talented US driver who has come along way since his fumbling original ChampCar spell 3 years ago, and it would be rgeat to see him in the championship. Nobody in the IRL side was dismissive of him due to his F3000 and ChampCar background - if anything his performances wwere sewen as more imrpessive due to his comparative lack of oval experience.

[Jordi]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Coyne seemed none too pleaased to find out from another driver who called him about Oriol's seat that Oriol had taken the Newman-Haas offer for last weekend....

Oriol might have that seat with Coyne when his stint with N-H ends, but I wouldn't bet on it....

If I were an owner, I sure wouldn't retain a guy who will jump ship at the first higher offer and leave me high and dry just a few days before an event...

If Bruno would come back before the end of the season, Oriol may be on the outside looking in...

You can't be too nice in this sport sometimes. Sometimes killer instinct is needed, and prime drives like a Newman-Haas Lola don't come every day.

[JohnSSC]

No offense, then by what you are saying here Jordi then when PG reconsiders a handshake deal, then that is ok as well? Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander! It would seem that if the owner is to be committed to the driver, so should the driver be committed to his/her Team/Owner - correct?

I posted in the "18 car " thread concerning what the potential escape clause events are for a driver. I am sure Servia wants to avoid unpleasant litigation with DCR.

[JohnSSC]

And since when did drivers get "labels" that would prevent them from being mentioned/considered for an OWRS ride? Bell is just as qualified as any other driver available and really, how anal is it to have a list compiled of "our" drivers and "their" drivers?

I agree that the reunification talk has caused some "thread drift" and am more than happy to comply with the rules of the road posted by macdaddy in another thread. It would be great though if when discussing an OWRS-specific topic here then we were not seeing as an arguement against a driver's candidacy for a seat that "he is one of them."

Racing is too small of a community to start drawing dividing lines where we don't like someone because he drives in ALMS or GP2 or Late Models at Lernerville Speedway. We should be able to discuss drivers available, period.

Harumph, etc.

I will now go have a lie-down - no, wait - I have to go to work now!

[BootsOntheSide]

The fact that Oriol didn't tell Dale first hand is probably the worst part of this - I'm sure Dale understands the decision, but hearing it through the grapevine must hurt. And too true about Bell there John.

[Tim Northcutt]

Any word on whether Coyne is testing anyone this week??

In an inteview during the race last weekend, he said they didn't want to stick someone in the car on such short notice for Milwaukee...wouldn't be fair to the driver or the team....

Thus I'm assuming he's testing a couple of people this week, so that it is not short notice for Portland, and they can try to develop some rapport and communication between driver and team before the next race....

[jjspierx]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

And since when did drivers get "labels" that would prevent them from being mentioned/considered for an OWRS ride? Bell is just as qualified as any other driver available and really, how anal is it to have a list compiled of "our" drivers and "their" drivers?

I agree that the reunification talk has caused some "thread drift" and am more than happy to comply with the rules of the road posted by macdaddy in another thread. It would be great though if when discussing an OWRS-specific topic here then we were not seeing as an arguement against a driver's candidacy for a seat that "he is one of them."

Actually I find it to be completely relevant which series a driver is in when considering who you'd want to drive your car in a Champcar race. Its quite simple. Current Champcar drivers have experience in the cars and and road circuits. Why wouldn't a team owner consider that when deciding on a replacement driver? It's a good thing you're not a team owner.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by jjspierx

Actually I find it to be completely relevant which series a driver is in when considering who you'd want to drive your car in a Champcar race. Its quite simple. Current Champcar drivers have experience in the cars and and road circuits. Why wouldn't a team owner consider that when deciding on a replacement driver? It's a good thing you're not a team owner.

But it isn't like the driver in question doesn't have road racing, or at least some Champ Car experience...he just got his CC start too soon...before he was probably ready for it...