HVM out of money?

[Bezzen]

Just read an article in a swedish newspaper (Smålandsposten). According to Ornulf Wirdheim (who now seems to be Bjorn's only manager since Christian Horner took over Red Bull F1) HVM doesn't have any money left and he said that it's not impossible that HVM can't manage to compete in all the remaining races this season.

He also went on to say that all hopes for Bjorn returning to F1 was gone and that if the circumstances didn't change there was no way he would race for HVM next year.

I guess that means there will be no more Bjorn in ChampCar after this season (can't see any team running to sign him after this poor season) and I'm not sure where he'd go from there. Touring cars? Sportscars? Quiting?

[Alex K]

Bezzen if Bjoern has money in his pocket, who cares of his poor showing this year (really he was that poor??)... there number of teams in Champ Car World Series and IndyCar Series which are in need of wonga...

AFAIK most of Swedish rally and racing drivers are very good financed. Bjoern has money from Swedish Eurosport and LiquiMoly... so who knows?

[Bezzen]

Well, poor is a relative term. His season hasn't been Marshall-poor so far, but it hasn't exactly been F3000-champion-good. If you know what I mean.

Bjorn doesn't have much money. He never had. There's even been talk about that he hadn't enough cash to do his second season in F3000 with Arden but got away with it due to the fine prints in his Arden contract. So I don't think he can buy a seat for next year. According to Ornulf he had to bring far less sponsorship cash than Bremer for the HVM seat. But the thing is that next year he won't be judged on his previous F3000 results, but on this ChampCar season so I think he will have to bring as much cash as the next guy to the table.

But then I'm always the pessimist... I'm off course hoping he can get a seat as I know he's damn fast when things are going his way.

[Öbus]

Originally Posted by Bezzen

Just read an article in a swedish newspaper (Smålandsposten). According to Ornulf Wirdheim (who now seems to be Bjorn's only manager since Christian Horner took over Red Bull F1) HVM doesn't have any money left and he said that it's not impossible that HVM can't manage to compete in all the remaining races this season.

He also went on to say that all hopes for Bjorn returning to F1 was gone and that if the circumstances didn't change there was no way he would race for HVM next year.

I guess that means there will be no more Bjorn in ChampCar after this season (can't see any team running to sign him after this poor season) and I'm not sure where he'd go from there. Touring cars? Sportscars? Quiting?

Bezzen.

You’ve reading this article like the devil is reading the bible. Bjorn’s manager and father is just saying that HVM is struggling with money and can’t afford to test with Bjorn. All the rest is speculation from the journalist how wrote the article. You need to be a little bit more adequate and objective in you’re quoting of what is said or not said. And bay the way Bezzen Christian Horner is still Bjorns manager.

[Bezzen]

I guess you're right Öbus. I wasn't part of the interview myself so I don't know what was said. I apologise.

I thought Horner only was called an "advisor" now. I think both Horner and Örnulf hinted at Horner's lack of time for anything other than F1.

[Bezzen]

and adding.....

Since a newspaper article isn't a straight transcript of an interview we can't know if the journalist is purely speculating or actually writing what Örnulf said. But since it's a newspaper and not a tabloid I'm hoping he's basing his article on an actual interview. I'm not a regular reader of this paper so I don't know this journalist's credibility and ability to write proper journalism but hopefully he spent his studielån on student litterature and not beer.

But still, yes I was a bit sloppy writing/reading.

[Alex K]

Originally Posted by Bezzen

Well, poor is a relative term. His season hasn't been Marshall-poor so far, but it hasn't exactly been F3000-champion-good. If you know what I mean.

Yeah, I've got you. But, don't you think Bjoern should drive Haas' Lola to been F3000-champion-good?

Arden International is/was (back then) Newman Haas Racing of F3000, and HVM, Inc. today is like Coloni Motorsport... If you know what I mean.

[BootsOntheSide]

Although Wiggins was initially bullish about the team's post-Herdez prospects, the reality is that funding has been tight, and they've had to put a pay-driver in one car while not being able to fully help the more talented driver in the team. Other F3000 champions who've gone into ChampCar have landed in leading teams, hence their immediate success (and even then, Wirdheim has probably done better in real terms as a rookie than Junquiera, who got a second chance and took it).

[Öbus]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Although Wiggins was initially bullish about the team's post-Herdez prospects, the reality is that funding has been tight, and they've had to put a pay-driver in one car while not being able to fully help the more talented driver in the team. Other F3000 champions who've gone into ChampCar have landed in leading teams, hence their immediate success (and even then, Wirdheim has probably done better in real terms as a rookie than Junquiera, who got a second chance and took it).

Couldn’t say it better myself.

It’s not easy to deliver good result if you’ve only got one (!!) test day during the whole season. Bjorn has up till now made all his testing during the race weekends and that’s not exactly the best conditions. HVM gave Bjorn his first test day last week at Seebring, before that he had only done two days in Millvakuee on the oval. This is a quote from one of Bjorns weekly reports to his sponsors from last week ”The mistakes in Cleveland and Toronto where I hit the wall on cold tyres could have easily been avoided if I would have had the opportunity to go testing on a road course earlier during the year. As it is now I’ve had to find the limits for what cold tyres can take and how long it takes to bring them up to temperature under pressure in race situations – leading to mistakes that instead have resulted in the loss of points scoring positions”.

[Öbus]

Originally Posted by Bezzen

and adding.....

Since a newspaper article isn't a straight transcript of an interview we can't know if the journalist is purely speculating or actually writing what Örnulf said. But since it's a newspaper and not a tabloid I'm hoping he's basing his article on an actual interview. I'm not a regular reader of this paper so I don't know this journalist's credibility and ability to write proper journalism but hopefully he spent his studielån on student litterature and not beer.

But still, yes I was a bit sloppy writing/reading.

No bad feelings Bezzen and I appreciate your apologizes for reading the article a little bit sloppy.

[BootsOntheSide]

I didn't realise Bjorn had that little testing - I hope team bosses know, and can interpret his 2005 results accurately as a result. Under the circusmtances he's been as good as any of a very strong rookie field. My feelign taht he could succeed in F1 hasn't changed.

[Snrub]

Obus knows his stuff on this topic, so I'm on board with what he says.

Obus, can you give us any insights into anything else that's been going on with Bjorn?

He seems like he's got the right elements, but he hasn't put it together yet. I don't mean to be critical, but if someone from F1 looked at his current state in CC I can't see it helping him. The expectations are simply very high. To be quiet frank even Briscoe and Pananto have shown more in US OW and I don't think anyone is going to be taking a look at them because of it.

[Öbus]

Both Briscoe and Pantano was/is in good teams with a proper financial status. Sebastian was riding on his winning wave as F3000 Champion and got a seat in the best team from the very beginning. Bjorn lost momentum and race experience during his test year for Jaguar which affected him negative. Bjorn’s contract with jaguar was a three year contract and the decision to sell the team was a blow for him. Normally it’s always easier to adapt the driving style from lower classes and up than from higher classes and down. Compared to Da Matta with all his experience from Cart and the strong support he receives from PKV, I think Bjorn’s performance is not too bad. Bjorn’s problem for the moment is that the team has no money to spend on proper testing. All the know how and the skills is in place but there is no $$$ to put everything together. Bjorn’s result hasn’t been particularly good up till today but one need to consider that he was robbed on a top five finish in San Jose (black flag mistake from race officials) and another in Denver where he lost a whole lap because of a bad decision from the pit. Before that he was running out of fuel in the last corner in Monterrey which cost him a place on the podium. Mentally I’m not worried for Bjorn because he is a top level driver with a strong head and good self-confidence. The problem for Bjorn is that he needs to end the season on a high but I’m not sure that the team can provide him with a good enough car. At the last race in Montreal Bjorn was struggling with straight line speed during the whole race weekend and lost compared with his team mate, up to 7 mph on the straight. The team wasn’t able to solve the problem during the weekend and Bjorn was obviously not happy with that.

[Snrub]

7mph, that's a lot at Montreal. Presumably he was running out of gear like some of the others? What is Bjorn's situation looking like for next year? Will Liqui-moly and Eurosport stand behind him again?

I completey agree that he needs to get a strong finish or two by the end of the season. We've seen other drivers put together strong performances on lesser teams and succeed. Drivers on weak teams aren't expected to finish well consistantly, but they need to grab people's attention at least a couple of times. This year I think Ranger and Bremer have been more successful at acheiving that. I'd also suggest that last year guys like Wilson and Haberfeld did it as well. Servia did it earlier in his CC career and the last two seasons with DCR.

I'm hardly going to critisize Bjorn, but Briscoe and Pantano weren't exactly on a top team. (a former top team, yes)