Bizarre move - Ganassi signs Jaques Lazier

Kicking-back · 29 Jul 2005, 20:59 (Ref:1366908)

Jaques Lazier has been signed by Ganassi Racing to replace Darren Manning.

What a very strange thing to do.

luke · 29 Jul 2005, 21:07 (Ref:1366917)

And is he bringing money in?

Jacque is not a bad driver though..I though Ganassi would stick to just two entries for the remaining rounds.

Tim Northcutt · 29 Jul 2005, 21:13 (Ref:1366921)

Will he run at Michigan????

Remember, the team he ran with at Indy - Playa Del Racing - leased a chassis and such from Ganassi...

Maybe it is a combo of people - Jacques and the PDR guys - who are bringing the checkbooks to this....

Kicking-back · 29 Jul 2005, 21:14 (Ref:1366922)

My point is - Darren is better than Jaques.

So why get rid of Darren for him?

I could understand if it was a budget/engineering thing and they were going to two cars, but this was very strange.

BootsOntheSide · 29 Jul 2005, 21:26 (Ref:1366923)

I'm surprised by it as well. I think the Playa Del explanation is the most likely, and that Chip was only prepared to run a third car with outside funding; either that or a new sponsor has come on board demanding an American driver, or Chip wants to have something to offer would-be US sponsors, after some criticism for focusing on oveseas drivers.

rustyfan · 30 Jul 2005, 01:34 (Ref:1366991)

Jaques Lazier has more experience with the IndyCars than Manning though, and Ganassi's reasoning might be that they need a fresh take on their cars from a veteran's perspective. It's been done in the past in many forms of motorsport, and sometimes it has made a clear difference.

Just a thought...

EDIT - After giving it some extra thought I agree that the Playa del Racing scenario is the most likely though.

Hazza · 30 Jul 2005, 01:40 (Ref:1366994)

I agree with Rustyfan, how ever this does smell of money...

Tenoch · 30 Jul 2005, 01:56 (Ref:1366995)

The article on indycar.com makes it sound like its only for this race, and I saw something that caught my eye, the article mentioned that Lazier would be racing in a car "prepared" by Team Target Chip Ganassi.

This is a poor move by chip I thought the guy was running a top tier team. Moves like this make his team seem like Dale Coyne's Musical chairs team.

marcus · 30 Jul 2005, 04:11 (Ref:1367025)

good to see jaques back though

but I agree seems a bit odd and PDR thing looks like being the most likely story.

perhaps things between Darren and Chip where not good and not just on the track side of things , maybe (well obviosly) there was more to it but im only speculating.

whatever happened its done now and Jaques is back and I hope he does well

indycool · 30 Jul 2005, 13:28 (Ref:1367281)

The PDR connection sounds like a reasonable explanation.

Word was spreading around Indy that Ganassi became so frustrated with Manning and Briscoe crashing all the time that he told all his drivers after Briscoe crashed at Milwaukee that the next one that crashed was fired. Then Manning toddled around in qualifying and didn't make a lap, then parked it early in the race.

He may not have been unable to unload Briscoe because he's a Toyota pick. He may not have wanted to unload Dixon because he's a past champion.

In that situation, IMO, Jaques is a good a pick as any.

N I Tram · 30 Jul 2005, 14:21 (Ref:1367345)

It doesn't sound as if Jacques is a replacement for Manning as such, just that supplying but not running the 3rd car is seen as more economical for Chip given such a poor season.

Kicking-back · 30 Jul 2005, 15:40 (Ref:1367505)

According to Chip, Lazier is driving for Ganassi, it's not a case of supplying the car to someone else.

Lazier himself said:

Quote:

"Being given the chance to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing is obviously a dream come true. Since the first day they joined the Indy Racing League it was a team you looked at with a degree of envy.

"I'd always wanted to be part of a team like this and I feel like the first 45 races of my career have been the testing ground for this kind of opportunity.

"It's not often that I have been in a situation to be able to share information with teammates and be part of something bigger.

"I look forward to being a team player and hopefully I can help ignite a spark to get momentum back on the team's side. I hope to make the best of this chance the team has given me here at Michigan."

drewdawg727 · 30 Jul 2005, 16:47 (Ref:1367587)

ok...so who's running at panther then?
Enge's back is still telling him he can't race

BootsOntheSide · 30 Jul 2005, 17:06 (Ref:1367608)

Panther are running Buddy Lazier, Jacques' older brother.

Knowing that Jacques is a direct replacement for Darren does make it a strange decision, especially as he has relatively little experience of the current-generation IRL cars.

Down F0rce · 30 Jul 2005, 17:10 (Ref:1367611)

Townsend Bell with be racing for Panther this weekend. He's on the entry list:

http://www.indycar.com/news/2005/entry_list.html

BootsOntheSide · 30 Jul 2005, 18:15 (Ref:1367654)

A 3-car Panther team then. Nice to have both Laziers racing against each otherI guess.

jock25 · 30 Jul 2005, 20:29 (Ref:1367748)

Quote:

Originally Posted by indycool

He may not have been unable to unload Briscoe because he's a Toyota pick. He may not have wanted to unload Dixon because he's a past champion.

Is it not more likely that both Briscoe and Dixon have water-tight contracts with massive compensation clauses were they to be fired?

Dixon got a lucrative multi-year contract after it emerged F1 did not want him and Briscoe came to the negotiating table with some serious leverage - basically Ganassi needed to convince him that this was a better move than F1 with Jordan or F1 testing with Toyota. His contract HAS to be top notch as a result of this and accordingly extremely expensive to escape from...

Just a thought...

drewdawg727 · 31 Jul 2005, 03:24 (Ref:1367918)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Panther are running Buddy Lazier, Jacques' older brother.

Knowing that Jacques is a direct replacement for Darren does make it a strange decision, especially as he has relatively little experience of the current-generation IRL cars.

Woops, i confused the Lazier brothers, haha

I thought that Buddy had left Panther to race for Ganassi when i saw that but i guess i read it wrong.

Maybe i need to wear glasses?

rustyfan · 31 Jul 2005, 20:43 (Ref:1368485)

Cool, sounds like Ganassi is thinking about bringing in Scott Pruett for the IndyCar race at Watkins Glen later this year (Ganassi was just interviewed during the race broadcast), and would have done so for Infineon as well if it hadn't clashed with one of the Grand-Am races.

Hazza · 1 Aug 2005, 21:44 (Ref:1369693)

SCOTTYY!!!! WOOOOHAAAA!

Great news. GREAT news!

marcus · 2 Aug 2005, 08:38 (Ref:1369904)

seeing Pruett have a go would be very interesting.

rustyfan · 2 Aug 2005, 11:23 (Ref:1370036)

...but at the same time I have now read that Ganassi would prefer to have the same driver in for both road-course races, so Pruett coming in for Watkins Glen is still far from certain. I certainly hope he does, however.

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