Nordic sign Baumgartner

Spiddy-Spid · 25 Nov 2001, 12:25 (Ref:178688)

F3000 champions have signed ex Prost guy Zolt Baumgartner for 2001 and say they're aiming for top ten finishes from the start, and are hoping for podiums by the end of the year.

Does this sound odd to anyone else? Why would the top team sign someone they think is only capable of that?

sceptic · 26 Nov 2001, 10:13 (Ref:178930)

Quote:

Originally posted by Spiddy-Spid
F3000 champions have signed ex Prost guy Zolt Baumgartner for 2001 and say they're aiming for top ten finishes from the start, and are hoping for podiums by the end of the year.

Does this sound odd to anyone else? Why would the top team sign someone they think is only capable of that?

Two possibilities:

1) They are playing down his chances so he can surprise everyone

2) They are planning to put all their resources behind their other driver

Attila · 26 Nov 2001, 15:18 (Ref:179014)

There is another possibility. They have signed a multi year contract and this is the goal for the first year. Maybe they think that Zsolt will be good enough.

The Fan · 26 Nov 2001, 16:37 (Ref:179041)

Fourth possibility. Take the money as quick as you can. With the new car next year and big companies hesitating on spending money at the moment, better take a save option. The other driver at Nordic will defenitly be a good one with experience. But he will have to have a decent budget as well?

Speraficos · 26 Nov 2001, 19:13 (Ref:179095)

Zsolt IS good !

BootsOntheSide · 26 Nov 2001, 21:19 (Ref:179123)

"There is another possibility. They have signed a multi year contract and this is the goal for the first year. Maybe they think that Zsolt will be good enough. "

Almost certainly there is an element of this. Most of the recent champions were midfield runners in their first half-season in the class. The deal may already be for 2 years, ut I suspect this is an option. I expect the highly promising Jaroslaw Janis will be the lead driver next year though, Baumgartner's poisition being mainly to provide funding in place of Enge's Coca-Cola money, with Janis providing the talent in place of Wilson.

formula-3000net · 26 Nov 2001, 21:36 (Ref:179134)

Quote:

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
I expect the highly promising Jaroslaw Janis will be the lead driver next year though, Baumgartner's poisition being mainly to provide funding in place of Enge's Coca-Cola money, with Janis providing the talent in place of Wilson.

What makes you think Janis doesn't have lots of sponsorship money behind him?

Russfeld · 26 Nov 2001, 22:58 (Ref:179174)

Aside from some speed in the FPA winter series, what has Janis done in Fords Renaults and F3?

Attila · 27 Nov 2001, 11:55 (Ref:179318)

Russfeld, Janis did not have time to get used to any of the cars you mentioned. I think he was impressive in the last F3000 race; however, I think he is way to young.
By the way, Nordic still has Coca-Cola as sponsors for next year.
One more thing, Zsolt is a very technical driver, who did not find the limits of the car in the fast corners yet. He was told by Dominique Delestre not to damage his car so he could not push as hard as he wanted to. I think the half season he did last year does not give us a good base for evaluation. He did very well on the tests with Nordic.

DanFlag · 27 Nov 2001, 19:22 (Ref:179473)

If it were to be Janis, I think they would have tested him in the pre-season!

FEUsmart · 27 Nov 2001, 19:40 (Ref:179483)

Yeah, I heard Janis is at Estoril with (I think it's) Coloni.

That says to me that he won't be at Nordic next year.

Could be wrong though. I quite often am!

DanFlag · 27 Nov 2001, 19:49 (Ref:179490)

FEUsmart: any premilmenary results from todays tests?

FEUsmart · 27 Nov 2001, 19:59 (Ref:179492)

Not yet, but I'm working on it....

FEUsmart · 27 Nov 2001, 20:15 (Ref:179502)

Dan - Justin was fastest in the 2002 car on a 1m 29.4 (NOT 1.5s off the pace like the last person to test the 2002 car!)
Followed by Tomas Enge driving for Arden (!) 29.5 Gimmi Bruni, also at Arden did a 29.6. Camathias and Baumgartner, both at Nordic put in identicall times of 1m 30.88

Bentwood was also there, testing for Super Nova, Bjorn Wirdheim was testing for Durango and Jaroslav Janis was at Coloni.

The Fan · 27 Nov 2001, 21:12 (Ref:179524)

Camathias was always 1 to 2 seconds slower then Leinders so that does not look so promising for Baumgartner or is he supposed not to go fast here as well, not to damage the car.
But you never know I suppose we will have to give him the benefit of the douth. Prost Jr. wasn't the best team anyway. Time will tell.

Attila · 28 Nov 2001, 14:13 (Ref:179770)

Well I did not say that he is the best driver, I only said that we need to give him time. By the way the very first time he tested an F3000 car last year he was on the pace on the slow corners, he just could not find the limit on the fast ones. If he does find the limit he could be all right. Don't ask how I know, I was there in person representing him :-)). Cheers

Paddock CI · 30 Nov 2001, 11:56 (Ref:180502)

The behind-the-scenes story at Nordic racing is that they have been suffering financially since the middle of last year. Most people may find this hard to believe, but it is a fact. The much touted Coca-Cola sponsorship was spent and they were running on owner equity for the last half of the season.

The signing of Zsolt Baumgartner is a clear reflection of this fact. Zsolt is well funded and he was able to assist Nordic with the funds to put their deposit on the new Lola cars, without which they would not have been able to make their entry (unless they were willing to dip into more owner equity, of course).

Zsolt is a competent driver but will almost certainly be a disappointment in a Nordic car. It will be a different sight to see the Nordic cars at the back of the grid next year. Chris Mower´s comments about looking for top ten finishes really says it all, doesn´t it?

As for their other driver, they are looking for a driver with both money and talent (really!). Unfortunately, it appears that the best they will do is another mediocre driver with a bit of money. I also believe that they will be running a very tight ship next year so that they can try to recover some of that owner equity that has gone missing. Watch for the tell-tale signs of this by keeping an eye on their internet web site and by looking closely at the team´s appearance next year.

My guess for their second driver next year is Joel Camathias, once again, much more money than talent.

Yours from behind the scenes,
Paddock CI

Paddock Spy · 30 Nov 2001, 18:15 (Ref:180625)

Thanks for that Paddock Cl(One). So you have the behind-the-scenes word on that do you? Close but no cigar!! Still, your post gave me the biggest laugh that I have had all year - wonderful stuff!! Keep up the bad work..

Mekola · 2 Dec 2001, 02:35 (Ref:181115)

Well, we'll se "MOL" sponsorship on Nordic cars for next year, but, eh...
Anyone knows the father of Zsolt is the owner of an important Renault concesionnaire in Hungary?

DanFlag · 2 Dec 2001, 16:54 (Ref:181303)

Hi Mekola,

Yes I knew it, you just have to go to Zsolt website:
http://www.zsolt.baumgartner.hu/

And remove the zsolt prefixe in the URL to see it:
http://www.baumgartner.hu/

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