Manning confirmed "offcially"

[Peter S]

Darren manning has been officially confirmed as the lead walker racing driver for 2003. His team mate will be announced on febuary 4th.

[Peter S]

oh and it wont be Gonzalez! read the full report on www.autosport.com

[Jay]

Awesome! The series wouldn't be complete without a Brit!

[macdaddy]

Strange. An hour ago, the "Teams" page on CART.com was listing Walker for two cars. Gonzales and Lavin. Even gave Lavin's car number. But now, there's no listing for Walker at all. I'm sure it's in the process of being updated, but why would they put Lavin's name up there for a few hours, only to have Derrick say that he won't announce his second driver until Feb.4?

[macdaddy]

Now I'm really confused.

CART.com is now announcing Lavin will partner Manning, wearing the number 5 and sponsored by Corona. So what's this about Walker not announcing his second driver until Sebring?

[sgw2]

Pook got another Latin and another European. But most important he finally got a fellow Englishman!

Manning is a good driver on a bad team with no funding. No question this is a fully CART funded ride. BTW, Corona is not a huge sponsor; this is the money that was on the Herdez car last year, they get more signage at Walker.

Yet another reason for Americans to glue themsleves to the TV for CCWS?

[Peter S]

I am well confused as well. If you read the manning story on cart.com in still says they will announce there second driver on january 4th where as if you read the lavin sotry below it says walker say he will be mannings teammate. I am lost!

[The Snout]

3 car team ? Or just a f*uckup ? Someone proof reading it from either Cart or Walker's should have picked it up if it was a typo you'd have hoped.

[Russfeld]

Where is the manning $$$ coming from?

[Tiresmoke]

Originally posted by sgw2
Pook got another Latin and another European. But most important he finally got a fellow Englishman!

Manning is a good driver on a bad team with no funding. No question this is a fully CART funded ride. BTW, Corona is not a huge sponsor; this is the money that was on the Herdez car last year, they get more signage at Walker.

Yet another reason for Americans to glue themsleves to the TV for CCWS?

Lavin's Corona $ comes from his funding in Atlantics, which we can imagine to be about $1M plus the Corona $ that came over from Herdez. So I believe this to be a pretty well funded car. Walker had been working on a sponsorship for a while, not Gonz's, for a second car. He is no doubt using ESP money, but I think you'll see a title sponsor on Manning's car too. Feb 4 it will be announced.

[Jay]

I have no idea why people read so much into what driver profiles are on Cart.com. Odds are the webmaster doesn't know much more than the average person on this forum, and can only put up names when Cart tells him to.

[f1manoz]

Great news about Manning. The series needs a Brit for the crowds at Brands Hatch to cheer for, and Manning proved himself in his only race last year. I think he should go pretty well.

[sgw2]

I wish Manning luck in overcoming what I think is a very weak operation. He showed he is a capable driver at Rockingham. Good Luck Darren!

Tiresmoke,

Even adding in the Atlantics and Herdez associate sponsorship budgets for Corona (perhaps $1.5 M) that still is well short of what is required for a CART effort (roughly $4-5 M). It is very clear that Walker is getting the difference from CART, and that CART is fully funding Manning's ride. I am surprised not at all by this, as Derrick Walker is on the BoD of CART, and Chris Pook has made public his desire to have an English driver in CART.

Nothing done has been contrary to what Chris Pook has said he would do. He has been very clear that he is seeking greater European ownership and driver participation, and that he wants more races in Europe.

f1manoz,

CART would get a decent crowd at Brands Hatch regardless. They are piggy backing on the BTCC race that day.

[evo]

I read Manning's sponsor would be announced on the 4th at Spring Training.

[macdaddy]

I read Manning's teammate would be announced on the 4th at Spring Training.
Turns out he was announced while I was reading that!

[StuiE]

From Motorsport.com

Walker Racing announced their 2003 plans for racing in CART's Champ Car World Series today at their Indianapolis shop. As previously reported at Motorsport.com, Rodolfo Lavin will be driving Walker's #5 Corona-sponsored Reynard this season. Walker's second Reynard (#15) will be driven by young British star, Darren Manning, and will carry the logo of the Royal Auto Club.

So Manning's money is coming from RAC, but how much?

[camcartfan]

I thought I read something last week about Walker getting rid of the Reynard for the Lola. Sounded strange since he is the owner of Reynard, but I guess he stayed with it. It was the rumor about Panoz buying out the rights to Reynard, or something like that.

[Sato san]

Great news for Darren , at one stage it looked like he was heading back to Japan.

[cos]

And if he can drive a ChampCar as well as he can throw superminis around a tight car park (anyone else see him on ITV last night?) he'll be fantastic.

[Liz]

Personally I don't care to know all the financial details. I figure the important thing is to get the guys out front and let everyone see what they can do and who they are, and then they will be able to round up more money (or the teams will dump them.) The important thing is to build interest in them as drivers while they find their feet. If it is true that "Americans" only want to watch drivers whose fathers they knew or who have British/Irish heritage, we will soon know. If it is true that Americans like guys who can drive, we will soon know that too.

[BobbyB]

Count me as one of the latter.

[macdaddy]

Here's a new and interesting rumour from ChampWeb...

Coyne to announce Gonzales
After getting the boot from Walker Racing, Roberto Gonzalez will bring his budget to Dale Coyne Racing for 2003. An announcement is expected after Sebring.