'05 Silly Season - Page 51

Snrub · 5 Apr 2005, 20:14 (Ref:1271228)

That's really a shame for Haberfeld. He is a good driver and he deserved a seat. If he truely had money, why on earth couldn't have grabbed a seat at HVM or elsewhere? The article mentions that he may end up in Brazilian stock cars with Fittipaldi, Burti, Raul Boesel, Orsi and Salles. Interesting to see some of those names, particularly Orsi.

luke · 5 Apr 2005, 20:20 (Ref:1271233)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hazard

Tee hee, as in - you hope he doesn't get a drive

It will happen, - as that it looks like he won't make it this season.

Tim Northcutt · 5 Apr 2005, 20:23 (Ref:1271236)

Some of his comments were less than positive about the Series...which may not sit well with some of the team principals...

But I don't balme him....

If you're going to spend some of your own money to get a seat, it should be spent with a competitive team when you are at his level of competition and experience...

But that's just my opinion...

Amar7605 · 6 Apr 2005, 00:16 (Ref:1271356)

Quote:

Originally Posted by macdaddy

Only three days until first practice, and Silly Season is still going strong!

Thinking about this - and I am just throwing this out - is it possible that CC wants to have Silly Season rumors to keep going until just before the first race?

Who's gonna race? What teams will be on the grid? Where are the drivers from? You gotta admit - all of this adds a lot of drama, anticipation, buildup, and excitement before Long Beach!

Tenoch · 6 Apr 2005, 00:27 (Ref:1271360)

Maybe to us it does but try explaining what Cham Cars are when with half the neccessary info.

Snrub · 6 Apr 2005, 15:27 (Ref:1271783)

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=8827
Centrix will be secondary sponsor for both NH cars.

As we already know, Dominguez has a new sponsorship annoucement as well.

BootsOntheSide · 6 Apr 2005, 16:05 (Ref:1271803)

Maybe Haberfedl will go to HVM for race 2, if their drivers are signed only in the short term? Remains to be seen I guess. Tim, what did Mario say that could be taken as anti-OWRS by the fanatics?

The silence from Jensen in the last few days is worrying, but hopefully he will be there, with Dale providing the 18th car for Oriol.

StickShift · 6 Apr 2005, 16:18 (Ref:1271814)

I see some people are getting excited on the other boards about the sponsors listed for the RuSport cars.

Allmendinger's entry is listed as something like: Red Bull/Lola/Ford/Bridgestone
Wilson's entry is listed as something like: Sandisk/Lola/Ford/Bridgestone

It looks like Wilson will have a new sponsor on his car. However, I'm not sure that Allmendinger will have a Red Bull livery or even Red Bull logo's on the car. I remember several times last season, that his car was entered with 'Red Bull' as the primary sponsor, but the only Red Bull logo to be found was on AJ's crash helmet.

That being said, I really hope Rusport have dumped that hideous yellow/white test livery!

Snrub · 6 Apr 2005, 16:40 (Ref:1271832)

I'm not worried about Jensen, but maybe this will calm the nerves a little. These are the comments from a guy on the RX-7 forum who's a Champ Car official. (I have no doubt on that - but I really have no idea as to his level)

Quote:

Originally Posted by racerjason

Jensen is the real deal I've been speaking with Eric for the past two weeks. ...This past weekend they were in Indianapolis getting the car sorted and livery applied. I met with Eric last night to discuss opportunities with the team and he invited me to join them for a test weekend following Long Beach which they are set to run. He's serious and has an exceptional group of people and some good financing.

Mosport67 · 6 Apr 2005, 16:43 (Ref:1271836)

Where does the thought come from the HVM have only signed drivers in the short term? Did I miss something on this?

**FIRE** · 6 Apr 2005, 19:11 (Ref:1271970)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mosport67

Where does the thought come from the HVM have only signed drivers in the short term? Did I miss something on this?

Verstappen was offered a 1 race deal.

Tim Northcutt · 6 Apr 2005, 19:45 (Ref:1272000)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Maybe Haberfedl will go to HVM for race 2, if their drivers are signed only in the short term? Remains to be seen I guess. Tim, what did Mario say that could be taken as anti-OWRS by the fanatics?

The silence from Jensen in the last few days is worrying, but hopefully he will be there, with Dale providing the 18th car for Oriol.

One of his quotes was that the Series is in crisis due to the fact that a lot of drivers are having to bring their own funds to the table because the sponsorship money isn't there for the teams.....

Funding is almost always an issue in racing...and although it is a trend that needs to change, I don't know if I would call it a crisis....

I just took the comment as though he was taking a shot at the owners and the way they are handling the filling of seats...

StickShift · 6 Apr 2005, 20:35 (Ref:1272037)

I see Jensen Motorsport is now on the Champcar website: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/T...eam.asp?ID=285

I remember reading a few days ago that the car had been painted blue, green and white... Maybe it is a Herdez car!

jjspierx · 6 Apr 2005, 20:48 (Ref:1272044)

Quote:

Originally Posted by StickShift

I see Jensen Motorsport is now on the Champcar website: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/T...eam.asp?ID=285

I remember reading a few days ago that the car had been painted blue, green and white... Maybe it is a Herdez car!

I think I read somewhere that Jenson bought a Lola Chassis from HVM.

StickShift · 6 Apr 2005, 20:54 (Ref:1272048)

Ugh, do I have to admit that I was surfing Champ Car fanatics...

FilipeMB of the Champ Car Fanatics forum has found a brazilian motorsport website that is running a story that reports Dale Coyne is going to run Oriol Servia and Ricardo Sperafico for the full season in Champ Car.

http://www.superlicenca.com.br/0,,6,28913,00.html

At least they got one of the talented Sperafico's

icemachine · 6 Apr 2005, 21:43 (Ref:1272072)

The Google translation

Quote:

The paranaense Ricardo Sperafico (photo) is confirmed for season 2005 of the World-wide Formula. It closed contract with the team Dale Coyne today and travelled for the United States in the beginning of the afternoon. The stage of opening of the season of this year will be in the sunday, in Long Beach, in the United States.

Sperafico explains that the negotiations if dragged for much time and had been concluded today, when Dale Coyne bound to it so that it travelled immediately. The contract will be for all the season of 2005. "Will be an end of difficult week because my first contact with the car already will be in the official treinos of friday. But exactly thus I am confident and anxious to speed up. The goal in Long Beach will be to finish the race and if possible marking points ", it says.

The Brazilian will have as accompanying of team the Spaniard Oriol Servia.

Dov · 7 Apr 2005, 08:43 (Ref:1272314)

Update:

OK, we are a couple days removed from the Long Beach race, and although we know that we will see a 19 car line-up three of the entries are not truly confirmed: expect Oriol Servia in Coyne's #19 car, Ricardo Sperafico in his #11 car, and Michael Valiante in Jensen upstart team car... and that is great news - alongside all the sponsors singning on recently => we are actually doing better then expected, and should that trend continue (as we may only expect) then Champ Car will be floating above the red line verrry soon...

Probable 2005 line-up ("confirmed" entries in bold):

1. NEWMAN/HAAS = #1 - Sebastien Bourdais
2. NEWMAN/HAAS = #2 - Bruno Junqueira
3. FORSYTHE = #3 - Paul Tracy
4. FORSYTHE = #7 - Mario Dominguez
5. WALKER = #5 - Marcus Marshall
6. WALKER = #15 - Alex Tagliani
7. WIGGINS = #4 - Björn Wirdheim
8. WIGGINS = #55 - Ronnie Bremer
9. COYNE = #11 - Ricardo Sperafico
10. COYNE = #19 - Oriol Servia
11. BACHELART = #27 - Andrew Ranger
12. BACHELART = #34 - Nelson Philippe
13. KALKHOVEN = #12 - Jimmy Vasser
14. KALKHOVEN = #21 - Cristiano DaMatta
15. GENTILOZZI = #8 - Timo Glock
16. GENTILOZZI = #31 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
17. RUSSO = #9 - Justin Wilson
18. RUSSO = #10 - AJ Allmendinger
19. JENSEN = #23 - Michael Valiante

Besides the regular 19 car line-up we might see some additions during the season - either for one race or more - here is the rundown of the possibilties:

FORSYTHE - very good chance that Gerry Forsythe may opt to run Jos Verstappen in a third car since he does bring in a great following from Europe which can come in handy when Champ Car's European expansion happens.

FITTIPALDI - Emmo will definitely have a team next year but since Mario Haberfeld has been shut out there is a chance that he might start a little earlier - all depends on how he shall garner his funds - two Lolas he already has (thanks to KK), only more $$$ is needed.

PKV - Kalkhoven has promised a ride to both Christian Murchison and Josh Hunt that he had hoped to happen last year, it didn't, now he has vowed that one of 'em will at least be in a third car at Surfers this year - whether Jim McGee likes it or not.

CONQUEST - Eric Bachelart has been dreaming of having a three car team for the longest, and after last season ended he had said that this year he'll do the darnest to get it accomplished - - -> dreams aside, just so happens that Eric's countryman Bas Leinders is not satisfied with his role in F1 and wishes to come to Champ Car (namely Conquest) and race for real => we might see that happen this year.

WALKER - with the Aussie "buy-in" at Walker Racing that has resulted with the team being renamed to "Team Australia" Derrick Walker feels bad for Mario Haberfeld as well as few other drivers that wanted to come over and chances are that he might field a third car sometime during the season for either Haberfeld or Nicky Pastorelli who still is trying to figure out a way to come over to CCWS.

COYNE - the Argentinian GP race will definitely happen next year (alongside Brazil) - maybe even this year, this concept hasn't been finalized yet - - -> and so we have the infamous Gaston Mazzacane and his wouldbe Argentinian sponsorship hanging in the air => depending on the situation we might see "The Mullet" in either Coyne's third car or a one-off.

MANDEVILLE - Ken Mandeville is a "crazy" racing enthusiast and entepreneur (friends with Ron Hemelgarn, btw), few days ago he had announced his plans to field a Champ Car team and work on forming a F1 team one day - all fine and dandy - - -> now the latest from his camp is that he is 100% serious and will do whatever it takes to launch his Champ Car team this year... we shall see...

Possible additional entries:

20. FORSYTHE = #17 - Jos Verstappen
21. WALKER = #25 - Nicky Pastorelli or Mario Haberfeld
22. COYNE = #29 - Gaston Mazzacane
23. CONQUEST = #24 - Bas Leinders
24. FITTIPALDI = #20 - Mario Haberfeld
25. KALKHOVEN = #22 - Christian Murchison or Josh Hunt
26. MANDEVILLE = #38 - ???

btw, Click here for an updated picturesque version of the probable 2005 line-up and other possibilities!

zerO

Tim Northcutt · 7 Apr 2005, 10:34 (Ref:1272371)

Word also has it that the Ghost of Eddie Sachs is trying to work a deal with the film studio that will produce the sequel to the movie "The Sixth Sense" for sponsorship to drive a Reynard chassis and race in the Champ Car season.

When interviewed about his aspirations through a channeler during a OWRS-sanctioned seance, Eddie Sachs said' "Leaving unfinished business behind just burns me up."

Expect him on the grid in the "Sixth Sense - The Sequel" car by Monterrey...

bradrive · 7 Apr 2005, 10:51 (Ref:1272380)

Quote:

Originally Posted by StickShift

Ugh, do I have to admit that I was surfing Champ Car fanatics...

FilipeMB of the Champ Car Fanatics forum has found a brazilian motorsport website that is running a story that reports Dale Coyne is going to run Oriol Servia and Ricardo Sperafico for the full season in Champ Car.

http://www.superlicenca.com.br/0,,6,28913,00.html

At least they got one of the talented Sperafico's

Congrats to Ricardo! He deserves it!

bradrive · 7 Apr 2005, 10:54 (Ref:1272381)

Fabrizio del Monte racing for Jensen at the 1race. 1race deal only for the moment.

BootsOntheSide · 7 Apr 2005, 12:15 (Ref:1272432)

Who's he Bradrive? Not a name I'm familiar with.

You're right that Ricardo is the most deserving of the Speraficos of a drive, he was a winner in F3000 and must've found in frustrating to wtch his less-talented cousin compete last year. I'm surprised and pleased that Dale has got 2 cars out there, and managed to keep Oriol.

carsten66 · 7 Apr 2005, 12:46 (Ref:1272453)

The italian Fabrizio del Monte was runner up in 2003 and 2004 in the Superfund Euro 3000 series...

Tim Northcutt · 7 Apr 2005, 13:33 (Ref:1272489)

The Brazilian website SuperLicenca is a Very Reliable Source for open-wheel-racing news....

The person who runs the site is a Ten-tenths member, and she is very well connected in the racing world....I would consider her to be an authority on the racing scene in Brazil as well....

So if she posted the story, then you can be pretty certain of its veracity...

macdaddy · 7 Apr 2005, 13:33 (Ref:1272490)

SpeedTV is reporting that Servia and Ricardo Sperafico will be driving full-season with Coyne, although this has not yet been mentioned on the CCWS website.

Nineteen cars!

bradrive · 7 Apr 2005, 15:24 (Ref:1272560)

Quote:

Originally Posted by macdaddy

SpeedTV is reporting that Servia and Ricardo Sperafico will be driving full-season with Coyne, although this has not yet been mentioned on the CCWS website.

Nineteen cars!

Ricardo has a drive for the first race only with options for the rest of the season.

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