List Revised (almost done now)

[sgw2]

The CART lineup is rapidly finishing up. I now have 17 entries fairly firm.

Official (car numbers are my guess)

1. Paul Tracy, Player's Forsythe, '03 Lola (#33)
2. Patrick Carpentier, Player's Forsythe, '03 Lola (#32)
3. Adrián Fernández, Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex, Lola (#51)
4. Michel Jourdain jr., Gigante Team Rahal, Lola (#9)
5. Oriol Servia, Visteon Patrick, '03 Lola (#20)
6. Joel Camathias, Coyne, Lola (#19)
7. Roberto González, Walker, Reynard (#5)
8. Roldopho LavÃ*n, Corona Walker, Reynard (#15)
9. TBA (Hunter-Reay), American Spirit, Reynard (# )
10. TBA, American Spirit,Reynard (# )
11. TBA, Johnson ControlsRocketsports, TBA (# )

Confimed

12. Bruno Junqueira, Newman-Haas, Lola (#6)
13. Mario DomÃ*nguez, Herdez, Lola (#55)
14. Mario Haberfled, Conquest, ex-Fosrythe Reynard (#34)

Almost Done Deals

15. Alex Yoong, BSA Wheels Forsythe, ex-Ganassi Lola (# )
16. TBA (Zonta or Bourdais), Newman-Haas, Lola (#11)
17. Roberto Moreno, Herdez, Lola (# )

Notes:

* Ryan Hunter-Reay is pretty certain for one of Johansson's CART financed cars, while Jon Fogerty figures to be the other. Jimmy Vasser appears to have priced himself above the market both here and at Patrick.

* Ricardo Zonta has the edge for the second Newman-Haas car.

* Moreno appears to have settled the second Herdez seat.

* Alexandre Tagliani is thought to be in the Rocketsports car, but buzz is Gentilozzi wants a paying driver, even over a "free" driver like Tags.

* Expect the 18th car to come from Mo Nunn, since he is by far the most likely to get his ducks in order. He likes fellow Englishman Darren Manning. I expect Pook, who is an Englishman himself, wants to see one in the series with Franchitti gone and Wilson off to Minardi F1. I give that a better chance than Wayne Taylor, or a second Coyne or Patrick car.

Looks like that $30 M got Pook a full field for the 2003 CCWS. Only a third of the entries look to be strong. I expect NHR and Player's to dominate, but Fernandez should show well, as will Manning if Nunn makes the show. Every other car is either short some talent, equipment or experience. One or two of the others will surprise here and there.

[macdaddy]

Pook has yet to speak in Balderdashian, and when he said "19 cars, maybe 20" I believe him.

[f1manoz]

I've read a number of reports that Wayne Taylors car will arrive by Long Beach, but St. Pete's in February is just too early to get the operation organised. But he's a certain starter at Long Beach from all reports.

Conquest have been confirmed by CART, so that's 12.

[indycool]

sgw2, it may well be true on N-H, but at this time there're still strange goings-on there. A story on cart.com, in the "team release" section is written with the vagaries of the past on where N-H is going to run, the writer saying they're running CART and Brian Lisles NOT saying that and praising Toyota's cooperation on N-H's recent driver test, etc.

The "team release" refers to the N-H website, which hasn't been updated since Nov. 17 and the release cannot be found there. Autoweek and SpeedTV have picked up on the release verbatim but there's no indictaion that N-H was the one who distributed it.

Something, we know not what, is making it difficult for Carl Haas to say publicly, on the record, definitively, that "I am running cars in CART in '03."

Not saying it won't happen, but it's pretty cryptic.

[Snrub]

I've noticed teams have not announced who's sponsoring them. It's probably because they're under contract untill Jan 1. We'll probably get a better feel for who's doing what when the new year rolls around. For example if NH doesn't say who's sponsoring them we'll know what's going on.

[sgw2]

Indycool,

There is a lot going on at NHR, you are correct. I do not wish to say much here because of the political climate.

I think you may be correct. The Sebring tests make money for NHR; they charge the drivers to participate. The driver they wanted for the seat was Justin Wilson, who was backed by Pook (his English driver), and brought money. NHR has apparantly lost Chevron, and Eli Lilly has only renewed at a reduced level - but they reportedly want to race at Indy for the deal. As you say Brian Lisles indicated that NHR would only run a second car if it is a front-runner, so mere rent-a-rides like Gaston Mazzacane are out.

Cutting to the swift, IMHO, I think you'll see Pook do whatever it takes to secure Junky in CART for NHR. But I also think you'll see Junky at the Indy 500 in a Paul Newman run Lilly sponsored, TRD backed, Dallara Toyota, even if that means skipping a CART race to qualify on pole day. The second car is probably only 50-50, unless Zonta can find a wad of cash, or that rumored Canadian sponsor comes on board very soon for Tagliani.

Perhaps Pook should concentrate on getting that Wayne Taylor team together. Isn't Bryan Herta tied to that one?

Merry Christmas, and good racing next year!

Stuart

[indycool]

Merry Xmas, sgw 2, and to all on the forum....

Sounds like you're ahead of me on that one and that COULD be the reason we're not hearing anything definitive. I know Lilly wanted to race at Indy last year and that stumbling block held up the announcement for a couple months a year ago. I still think Pookfare cash is involved, and I expect the amount of that depends on the amount N-H gets in sponsorship.

I've heard Herta tied in with the Wayne Taylor bunch but I've heard nothing but rumor surrounding that one.

It'll certainly start going fast and furious come Jan. 2.

Peace and good racing to all...

[Jay]

I think the reason for the delayed Newmann-Haas second car announcement is that they want to get as much out of Cart as possible in terms of financial assistance. They may be having difficulty attracting new sponsors, so whatever they can get from Cart helps. That said, I think it's pretty safe to say they'll have two cars in Cart next year - Junqueira and probably Zonta (I think he brings the most money to the table).

I don't know about Wayne Taylor.. does he have a shop ready? Has he ordered his chassis? drivers selected? If not, Cart would be better to fund an extra entry or two from the existing teams (say Coyne, Rahal, Herdez or Patrick) to make up the final positions of the grid until Wayne Taylor can get his team together.

That said, Herdez and Coyne both seem to be confident of having second entries (maybe partly Cart funded in Coyne's case), so maybe there's nothing to worry about from Cart's perspective.

[Evilsenna]

If I look at the team page on Cart.com, we now have:
Dale Coyne Racing: Joel Camathias
Fernandez Racing: Adrian Fernandez
Herdez Competition: Mario Dominguez
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing: Mario Haberfeld
Newman/Haas Racing: Bruno Junqueira
Team Rahal: Michel Jourdain Jr.
Visteon/Patrick Racing: Oriol Servia
Walker Racing: Roberto Gonzalez
Player's/Forsythe Racing: Patrick Carpentier
Player's/Forsythe Racing: Paul Tracy
and
Player's/Forsythe Racing: Alex Tagliani!!
with a Ford-Cosworth/Reynard

Any confirmations of this????

[Jay]

I think Cart.com is in a transition process, and you shouldn't really consider anything other than the press releases as accurate.

here's TSN.ca's list which looks to be correct as to announced entries:

Corona Racing Team (1): The Modelo Group is bringing its beer brand to CART with driver Rodolfo Lavin under the technical management of Walker Racing.


Conquest Racing (1): Eric Bachelart is making the move from the IRL to CART with Mario Haberfeld; they have reportedly bought the Reynard chassis used by Player's Forsythe Racing in 2002.


Stefan Johansson (2): The Swede will field two cars in 2003 under the American Spirit Team Johansson banner; driver announcements to be finalized in January; Jimmy Vasser and Atlantic driver Ryan Hunter-Reay have been mentioned as possibilities.

Dale Coyne (1): Will field a one car team for Swiss rookie Joel Camathias in 2003; Andre Lotterer could find his way into a second car if enough sponsorship can be found.

Newman-Haas Racing (2): Bruno Junqueira replaces Cristiano da Matta, who is off to Formula One; Christian Fittipaldi is off to NASCAR, leaving a second seat open; One of Jon Fogarty, Sebastien Bourdeau, Ricardo Zonta and Bryan Sellers will likely be chosen; Canadian David Rutledge and Alex Tagliani are also possibilities.

Fernandez Racing (1): Adrian Fernandez will return as the only driver/owner in the series and it's a possibility that they will field a second car; Teammate Shinji Nakano will likely move to the IRL due to his association with Honda and backing from the Motegi racetrack

Patrick Racing (1): One of CART's original founders will return with Oriol Servia behind the wheel; The team hopes to field a second car the funding can be found.

Player's/Forsythe Racing (2): Paul Tracy joins Patrick Carpentier for 2003 as Player's makes a big push to win the championship in its final year of sponsorship; Alex Tagliani, with one year left on his contract, has been given permission to talk to other teams.

Walker Racing (1): Will field a car for Mexican Roberto Gonzalez in 2003.

Team Rahal (1): Is committed to one car for sure and possibly two, pending sponsorship; Michel Jourdain Jr. returns wtih sponsorship from Gigante; Jimmy Vasser has a deal to return but sponsorship is the key as Shell is in the final year of its deal.

Herdez Competition (1): Expected to return, especially with two races now scheduled for Mexico; Mario Dominguez is expected to be joined by a second car next season with either Justin Wilson or Roberto Moreno.

Paul Gentilozzi (1): The Trans-Am champ confirmed in Mexico that he will be fielding a team in 2003. Alex Tagliani, Jimmy Vasser and Max Papis have been mentioned as a possible drivers.

That's 15 officially announced entries to date... Yoong will likely be in somewhere, making it 16... and the other 2 will likely be 2nd entries at other teams (possibly funded by Cart). And of course there's Wayne Taylor, whenever he can get it together...

[Snrub]

Originally posted by Jay
Teammate Shinji Nakano will likely move to the IRL due to his association with Honda and backing from the Motegi racetrack

Tad off topic, but why the heck did/does Motegi sponsor Nakano? Honda owns the track, why not plaster Honda on the car instead?