Update:
The Bas Leinders Story ?!
Last year, before Walker signed Mario Haberfeld he had Bas Leinders under consideration, but since Bas' ultimate goal is F1 when Minardi offered him a test role he took it. Now, in a latest interview with an Italian "Autosprint" magazine Leinders had said that should he not get a full-time F1 ride in 2005 he'll come to Champ Car and be with Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing team. Yes, that would be very logical since both of them are Belgian, but the major question here is whether Conquest would become a three car operation next year as Bachelart is dreaming of. Assuming that Bas Leinders will not have enough $$$ (talent he surely has) to land a ride in F1 - that money should be enough for adding another car to Bachelart's stable and having his countryman piloting it.
Here's how the line-up scenario for next year looks like now:
1. NEWMAN/HAAS - #1 - Sebastien Bourdais
2. NEWMAN/HAAS - #2 - Cristiano DaMatta
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - #6 - Bruno Junqueira
4. FORSYTHE - #3 - Paul Tracy
5. FORSYTHE - #7 - Rodolfo Lavin or Rafael Martinez or Luis Diaz or Homero Richards
6. WALKER - #5 - Mario Haberfeld or Brian Sellers
7. WALKER - #15 - Michael Valiante or Jonathan Macri or Andrew Ranger or Rafael Martinez
8. WIGGINS - #4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. WIGGINS - #55 - Mario Dominguez
10. COYNE - #11 - Oriol Servia or Michael Keohane or Tomas Enge
11. COYNE - #19 - Gaston Mazzacane or Jaime Melo or Ralph Firman or Andrew Ranger
12. BACHELART - #14 - Nelson Philippe or Mario Haberfeld or Ricardo Sperafico or Memo Gidley or Bas Leinders
13. BACHELART - #34 - Justin Wilson
14. KALKHOVEN - #12 - Jimmy Vasser or Patrick Carpentier
15. KALKHOVEN - #21 - Roberto Gonzalez or Rafael Martinez or Homero Richards
16. GENTILOZZI - #8 - Alex Tagliani
17. GENTILOZZI - #17 - Guy Smith or Michael Valiante or Andrew Ranger or Memo Gidley
18. RUSSO - #9 - Michel Jourdain
19. RUSSO - #10 - AJ Allmendinger
Possible new entries in 2005:
20. BACHELART - #24 - Bas Leinders or Memo Gidley or Andrew Ranger
21. FITTIPALDI - #20 - Ricardo Sperafico or Mario Haberfeld or Jaime Melo or Ricardo Zonta or JP.DeOliveira or Tiago Monteiro
22. KALKHOVEN - #22 - Christian Murchison or Josh Hunt or David Besnard
23. LEBERLE - #33 - Ralph Firman or Jos Verstappen or Bas Leinders or Tomas Enge
Longshot entries for 2005:
24. MENARD - #18 - Jeff Simmons or Mark Taylor
25. NUNN - #30 - Felipe Giaffone or Alex Barron
26. SIERRA - #26 - Andrew Ranger or Ryan Dalziel
27. GRAJEWSKI - #24 - André Lotterer or Pierre Kaffer
28. JENSEN - #23 - David Sterckx or Eric Jensen
29. PROST - #27 - Jacques Villeneuve or Jonathan Cochet
30. PROST - #28 - Nicolas Prost or Franck Montagny
31. CONDOR - #31 - Jon Fogarty or Townsend Bell
32. CONDOR - #32 - Marc Hynes or Brian Sellers
33. DYSON - #16 - Chris Dyson or Gunnar Jeannette
34. HEMELGARN - #91 - Townsend Bell or Jaime Melo
btw, for an updated picturesque version of the current line-up and the next year's possibilities -> go to
www.champcarfan.com and click on the "Line-Up" thingy ?!