2004 OWRS Champ Car Line-Up ?!?!

[zerO]

Line-up update:

OK, RHR at Herdez is all but confirmed/announced... now, should Rahal follow in Fernandez' footsteps chances are that the Gigante/Jourdain team will become a third entry at PKVR ?!

And here's how the line-up looks now:

1. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - Rodolfo Lavin
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira or Justin Wilson ?
5. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
6. HERDEZ - Ryan Hunter-Reay
7. KALKHOVEN - Jimmy Vasser
8. KALKHOVEN - Roberto Gonzalez
9. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
10. GENTILOZZI - Nelson Philippe
11. WALKER - Justin Wilson or Patrick Carpentier ?
12. RAHAL - Michael Jourdain
13. COYNE - Michael Keohane
14. BACHELART - Mario Haberfeld or Patrick Carpentier ?
15. FITTIPALDI - Gaston Mazzacane
16. RUSSO - AJ Allmendinger

Possible additions:

17. FORSYTHE - Patrick Carpentier or Justin Wilson ?
18. WALKER - Jonathan Macri or Michael Valiante or Ralph Firman ?
19. COYNE - Ralph Firman or Jaime Melo or Geoff Boss ?
20. FITTIPALDI - Mika Salo or Oriol Servia ?
21. BACHELART - Townsend Bell or Oriol Servia ?

btw, updated picturesque version = http://www.planet.nl/~f1/cart2k4.htm

btw #2, currently OWRS are in a proccess of "altering" some of the contractual clauses where the car count is specified... sign that PG's "18 cars" promise doesn't seem very likely ?!

btw #3, EUROSPORT has inked a 3 year deal with OWRS and they're planning on showing all Champ Car races live ?!

zerO

[indycool]

zerO,

btw#2, they're trying to lower all of 'em to 16 and negotiating their sanctioning agreements downward to do so.

For the count:

First 10 look solid. #16 looks pretty solid.

Rahal iffy, should know in a couple days. Walker probably not and will probably field a Patrick car for Unser Jr. in IRL. Coyne, if the money shows and remember Joel Camathias a year ago, when it showed for awhile. Bachelart and Fittipaldi, no money yet.

[Fogelhund]

It would seem that the popular press believes the following

Solid deals
1. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - Rodolfo Lavin
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira
5. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
6. HERDEZ - Ryan Hunter-Reay
7. KALKHOVEN - Jimmy Vasser
8. KALKHOVEN - Roberto Gonzalez
9. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
10. GENTILOZZI - Nelson Philippe
11. RUSSO - AJ Allmendinger

Looking for money/finalization
12. COYNE - Ralph Firman
13. COYNE - Michael Keohane
14. BACHELART - Carpertier??
15. FITTIPALDI - Gaston Mazzacane

Sitting on fence
16. RAHAL - Michael Jourdain

Beyond that???

[Ac.]

That's spot on Fogelhund. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring. Maybe some cars will materialize in time for Long Beach much like they did last year in St.Pete, but right now it's not looking likely.

[indycool]

About the way I see it, Fogelhund......

[codename_47]

Originally posted by zerO
btw #3, EUROSPORT has inked a 3 year deal with OWRS and they're planning on showing all Champ Car races live ?!
[/B]

Sorry WHAT? Where'd this spring from?

DAMMIT! I was hoping Motors TV would scoop up the Live rights, because Eurosport SAY they'll show it live, but they rarely will if Tennis, Football, and especially this year the Olympics and Euro 2004 Football tournament have anything to do with it!

Hmm, maybe a seperate thread for this, when it becomes official!

[SALEEN S7R]

I think we can add Justin Wilson to that list. On a news article at www.dailysportscar.com Justin Wilson said that he was entering this years Sebring 12hrs as a prelude to a open wheel campagin this year. Now hes not on any F3000 entry lists Ive seen, or SWS for that matter, or the IRL, so really and truley the only other series suitable would be CART. It would appear that he has the budget in place for this season at least as he is using this race to "prepare" and I imagine he made quite a bit of money from his time in F1.

[sgw2]

Kalkhoven says he wants a Brit.

Why OWRS and Pook before him wanted Brits is beyond me. They really don't do stink for the fan base in the US, nor do they help even a penny ith sponsorship. I just don't get the fascination Champ Car has had with them. Do they think they'll get another Nigel Mansell or Jackie Stewart? Short of some ex-F1 Champion I fail to see the value. But if KK wants one, he'll get one.

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by sgw2
Kalkhoven says he wants a Brit.

Why OWRS and Pook before him wanted Brits is beyond me. They really don't do stink for the fan base in the US, nor do they help even a penny ith sponsorship. I just don't get the fascination Champ Car has had with them. Do they think they'll get another Nigel Mansell or Jackie Stewart? Short of some ex-F1 Champion I fail to see the value. But if KK wants one, he'll get one.

It attracts interest from a fairly major market and could bring in some money for TV rights.

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by SALEEN S7R
I imagine he (JUSTIN WILSON) made quite a bit of money from his time in F1.

He made little more than his travelling and accommodation expenses at Minardi - and was certainly not on big money at Jaguar.

And he wouldn't be using personal cash to buy a Champ Car drive - he needs it to live on!

[indycool]

It could, kicking-back, but it's reported elsewhere on these boards that Eurospot has already signed, so TV rights are gone. And Britain isn't going to be a major target market with no races being run there.

[zerO]

Line-up update:

After the latest shenaningas KK & PG are still adamant that an 18 car grid will be "produced" by Long Beach... that means the OWRS will have to subsidize/help the struggling teams more than they'd like to (especially Emmo and Coyne) otherwise it won't happen... so, here's how the possible line-up is shaping to be:

1. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - Rodolfo Lavin
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira
5. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
6. HERDEZ - Ryan Hunter-Reay
7. COYNE - Ralph Firman or Jaime Melo ?
8. COYNE - Michael Keohane
9. FITTIPALDI - Mika Salo or Oriol Servia ?
10. FITTIPALDI - Gaston Mazzacane
11. KALKHOVEN - Jimmy Vasser
12. KALKHOVEN - Roberto Gonzalez
13. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
14. GENTILOZZI - Nelson Philippe
15. RAHAL - Michael Jourdain
16. BACHELART - Mario Haberfeld or Patrick Carpentier ?
17. RUSSO - AJ Allmendinger

Possible additions:

18. FORSYTHE - Patrick Carpentier or Justin Wilson ?
19. WALKER -Justin Wilson or Ralph Firman or Jonathan Macri or Michael Valiante (or Robby McGehee at Indy) ? :confused:
20. BACHELART - Townsend Bell or Oriol Servia or Justin Wilson ?

btw, updated picturesque version = http://www.planet.nl/~f1/cart2k4.htm

zerO

[corkholio]

As part of the deal Jaguar did not have to pay Wilson any base salary.

[cos]

Latest Autosport suggests the following:
Firman and Keohane at Coyne
Wilson at Conquest
Haberfeld and Valiante/Macri at Walker
Sperafico at Fittipaldi

[indycool]

DOn't mean this as caustically as it sounds, but did Autosport suggest where the money was coming from to do all of this?

[Amar7605]

I like that link, ZerO, but that is a REAL stretch, the way that everything sounds now. Sure it would be great, but I can't see most of it happening. Rusport said that they are going to be a 1-car team. How can they support Michael Valiente?

[zerO]

Originally posted by Amar7605
I like that link, ZerO, but that is a REAL stretch, the way that everything sounds now. Sure it would be great, but I can't see most of it happening. Rusport said that they are going to be a 1-car team. How can they support Michael Valiente?

OK, Amar... I'll do a brakedown of what I mean by "here's how the picture looks like now" ?!

Confirmed self-sustained teams:

1. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - Rodolfo Lavin
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira
5. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
6. KALKHOVEN - Jimmy Vasser
7. KALKHOVEN - Roberto Gonzalez
8. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
9. GENTILOZZI - Nelson Philippe
10. RAHAL - Michael Jourdain
11. RUSSO - AJ Allmendinger

Non-confirmed self-sustained teams:

12. WALKER - Jonathan Macri or Michael Valiante ?
13. HERDEZ - Ryan Hunter-Reay
14. COYNE - Michael Keohane
15. BACHELART - Mario Haberfeld

OWRS aided non-confirmed teams:

16. COYNE - Ralph Firman or Jaime Melo ?
17. FITTIPALDI - Mika Salo or Oriol Servia ?

OWRS aided possible teams:

18. FORSYTHE - Patrick Carpentier
19. BACHELART - Justin Wilson or Townsend Bell ?
20. FITTIPALDI - Gaston Mazzacane or Ricardo Sperafico ?
21. RUSSO - Michael Valiante

And that is the nitty-gritty - out of all that we will see 18 cars as KK & PG have promised ?!?!... whether we'll see Patreek or Valiante is a different ballgame...

btw, see the updated picturesque version = http://www.planet.nl/~f1/cart2k4.htm - note: "confirmed" is in black ?!

zerO

[cos]

Originally posted by indycool
DOn't mean this as caustically as it sounds, but did Autosport suggest where the money was coming from to do all of this?

No they didn't. They did say that OWRS wanted to "hurry up" the confirmation of drivers though. Indeed, Autosport, being a British magazine, were proclaiming Wilson and Firman as the "saviours" of OWRS...

[cos]

20. FITTIPALDI - Gaston Mazzacane or Ricardo Sperafico ?

That should be Alex Sperafico. I think.

[SALEEN S7R]

Lets hope not, Ricardo Sperafico is the more talented of the 2 cousins for sure, Alex Sperafico isnt bad but hes nowhere near the level of Ricardo IMO. (Who happened to finish 2nd in last years FIA Int F3000 championship).

[Kicking-back]

Ricardo and Rodrigo = good.

Alex = not very good.

[bella]

ricardo seemed to out-psyche himself a lot when he did f3000, the title should have been his. bit of an uncontrollable red mist too.

[Tenoch]

i doubt that Michael Valiente will find any kind of ride.

[Snrub]

No one can argue with the confirmed list, BUT realistically Herdez, Rahal, Lavin, Gonzalez with the possibly of NH and Tag are the only self-sustaining teams. RHR sounds to be a done deal and actually funded. I'd put it in the solid column bringing it to 12.

1 for Fittipaldi and Coyne are likely. 1 for Bachelart is probably likely. That's 15. I don't see any reason to suspect beyond that. It's possible, but I'm going to need to see something before I see it worth mentioning beyond the concept stages.

[spider]

OWRS 'aided' teams - erm, how will they be aided - entire seasons funding? Introduction of sponsors to the team, yeah right...?! Isn't this the way Pook kept the series alive last season?!? Sorry, I need to lean on your inside knowledage here, as although I bet there will be 18 cars at LB as there HAS to be, I can't see where they're really comin' from...?