2004 OWRS Champ Car Line-Up ?!?!

[Fogelhund]

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


Rumours?

15. NEWMAN/HAAS - Jourdain
16. BACHELART - ??
17. FITTIPALDI - ??

[spider]

Wilson at Conquest is looking like a done deal...fingers crossed one et al!

[GBoehm]

Why is Carpentier now shown at Forsythe... I thought the released him.

[GBoehm]

Also.... IS Fittipaldi even going to field a car this year?

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by GBoehm
Why is Carpentier now shown at Forsythe... I thought the released him.

They didn't release him.

They just didn't have a car available for him as part of their team.

Now they've done a deal.

[Dov]

Originally posted by GBoehm
Why is Carpentier now shown at Forsythe... I thought the released him.

http://www.forsythe-racing.com/index.html

Forsythe Championship Racing confirms the detail of its three car assault on the 2004 ChampCar World Series.

Defending World Champion, Canadian hero Paul Tracy will drive the # 1 ‘Indeck Forsythe Racing’ car, Canadian Patrick Carpentier the # 32 ‘Indeck Forsythe Racing’ car and new team member from Mexico, Rodolfo Lavin in the # 3 ‘Corona Forsythe Racing’ entry.

Before the Season’s first race at Long Beach California on April 18th, the Team and Drivers will undertake a busy testing schedule, visiting Sebring, Homestead and Fontana to shake down the race cars and to prepare for the start of the Season and the demanding street course at Long Beach California.

Paul Tracy is looking forward to getting back into his race car. “Its been a long winter. I’m fit and ready to go racing and determined to defend my Championship. ChampCar is the greatest Series and I look forward to racing in front of full grandstands at Long Beach on April 18th and to winning again in California.”

“Now that the final details of running three cars has been worked out by the Team I’m really looking forward to testing next week and the first race, and working for the Series and challenging for the Championship” says Patrick Carpentier.

Rodolfo Lavin had his seat fitting last week, “I’m so impressed with the race shop and the Team’s engineers and crew guys. This is a great opportunity for me to work with the best Team in the Series and with such experienced drivers, Champion Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier. I look forward to the first race in Long Beach and doing my best for the Team and my Sponsor Corona _ and of course to racing at home in Mexico very soon.”

[spider]

Great stuff!!

[zerO]

Line-up update:

Patrick Carpentier at Forsythe has been confirmed = http://www.cart-racing.com/news/inde...e=news&ID=3519

Justin Wilson is about to be named as a driver of Conquest #34 car = http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/10355/ - and as a result of that Mario Haberfeld will most likely land in a Walker #15 car or Emmo's #7 car ?!... word from the Grapevine is that Bachlart will not field a second car this year as well as Russo won't ?!

Here's how the line-up is shaping up now:

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

Possibles:

17. WALKER - Mario Haberfeld or Jonathan Macri or Ricardo Sperafico or Jaime Melo ?
18. FITTIPALDI - Christian Fittipaldi or Mario Haberfeld or Ricardo Sperafico or Jaime Melo or Gaston Mazzacane ?
19. HEMELGARN - Robby McGehee or Jaime Melo ?

Also worth noting is that Conquest will be switching to Lolas and the only Reynard that might be on the grid could come courtesy of the Coyne/Firman entry.

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

zerO

[racinthestreets]

Hey zerO: Thanks for the continuing colorful lineups. I thought I saw RuSport with a sponsor in some article. Does anyone recall?

[Fogelhund]

http://www.autosportmag.com/newsitem.asp?id=26505&s=7

Team owner Eric Bachelart, who ran Mario Haberfeld in the 2003 championship, said: "The first race is very close. There is a lot of will here to sign Justin. We are waiting for some final decisions, and hope to make an announcement this week."

Wilson's manager, former F1 racer Jonathan Palmer added: "We're in serious dialogue. If a deal is going to happen it will be announced in the next couple of days."

Too many IF's for me to add this to the official list. Particularly when we don't know what those IF's are. IF we can get financing, IF we can agree on a salary, IF????

Hopefully it gets done, Justin is a quality driver, and IF the team could deliver a car, a contender.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Originally posted by racinthestreets
Hey zerO: Thanks for the continuing colorful lineups. I thought I saw RuSport with a sponsor in some article. Does anyone recall?

Thanks racininthestreets for the comments on the lineup page

And thanks to zer0 for the continuous newsstream from which I can 'produce' the page.

[racinthestreets]

Thanks racininthestreets for the comments on the lineup page

Thanks to you Stranger. The lineup is a highlight of the forum IMO.

[Fogelhund]

Not sure if this is new or not, but confirms Walker in IRL, and confirms sale of CART assets. Not sure if that crosses Walker off the list, but it would seem as though it would be quite a bit to accomplish two new teams from scratch in weeks.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st...516579845.html

"Pat is moving over from CART to the IRL and he sold all of his assets and equipment that he had from his CART team. So we are basically starting from scratch (but) we are going to go to every single race trying to win every single race that we enter, just like I have my entire career, and I really feel that with Steve (Newey) running the team and Pat's backing, that we are going to be competitive."

[macdaddy]

I read that as confirming the sale of Patrick's assets, not Walker's.

[Dov]

I didn't see anything mentioned about Walker in that article.

[Tim Northcutt]

I read in the Indy Star that the Patrick/Unser effort is being done with Derrick Walker's personnel and will operate out of his shops...

I also recall reading in recent weeks in various threads that Walker had gotten rid of his Reynards....can't remember the thread....

If Walker's operation will be providing resources to the Patrick effort, are they going to be able to field an OWRS team???

Just asking....

[Dov]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
I also recall reading in recent weeks in various threads that Walker had gotten rid of his Reynards....can't remember the thread....

Tim, do you not remember reading in those same threads that Walker bought 6 Lola chassis?!

[Tim Northcutt]

Sorry....I did miss that....but I don't know how....

That just confuses the issue even more for me....

If he's contributing resources for the Patrick IRL effort, how will that impact his ability to run OWRS....

Walker Racing has been on tight purse strings for more than a couple of seasons....why scatter limited resources????

[Fogelhund]

I thought that there was a link somehow, if I'm incorrect, I apologize. It gets hard to keep track with all of the facts, rumours, and spin. Spin, yes that is my head spinning.

[Dov]

Your right Tim, I don't know how he (Walker) can help out Pat Patrick and field a CC team unless OWRS steps in!?

[Testure]

Originally posted by Dov
Tim, do you not remember reading in those same threads that Walker bought 6 Lola chassis?!

I think that that was just a rumour that he'd ordered six. Afraid I don't expect to see him this year.

[Emfa]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
...
If he's contributing resources for the Patrick IRL effort, how will that impact his ability to run OWRS....
...

The question that comes to my mind here is, is Derrick contributing resources out of the goodness of his heart, or is he being paid? If it's the latter, maybe he will use the income to support his CCWS effort. (Just thinking out loud...)

[corkholio]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
I thought that there was a link somehow, if I'm incorrect, I apologize. It gets hard to keep track with all of the facts, rumours, and spin. Spin, yes that is my head spinning.

Walker advertised the Reynards for sale on his team's website. As for the Lolas, as far as I know there was no link as it was just a rumor made up by someone who has been known to do that around here.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by Dov
Tim, do you not remember reading in those same threads that Walker bought 6 Lola chassis?!

A while ago I investigated the case of the "four to six" (the number varies according to the "source") chassis that Walker Racing would have bought from Lola and I came up with nothing. Other people, working in parallel, found the same conclusion too.

If Walker would have bought tubs from Lola, I am sure we would have known it by now: Lola, that has had consecutive years of low sales (particularly in CART and sportscars - and that's why this company is putting quite some effort behind the Formula 3 project; they need to find new businesses) would be very interested to announce this news (or to let it leak). Instead, neither Lola nor Walker has ever mentioned or confirmed that.

So far, all elements available indicate such a transaction has not occurred.

Cheers,

Muzza

[Testure]

Originally posted by zerO
1. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
2. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira
3. NEWMAN/HAAS - Michel Jourdain
4. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
5. FORSYTHE - Rodolfo Lavin
6. FORSYTHE - Patrick Carpentier
7. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
8. HERDEZ - Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. COYNE - Michael Keohane
10. COYNE - Ralph Firman
11. KALKHOVEN - Jimmy Vasser
12. KALKHOVEN - Roberto Gonzalez
13. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
14. GENTILOZZI - Nelson Philippe
15. BACHELART - Justin Wilson
16. RUSSO - AJ Allmendinger

Now, I know that we mighn't see all of those guys on the grid at Long Beach, but that's a remarkably good selection of drivers all things considered. The only guy there that I wouldn't have much time for is Lavin, plus I don't expect much of anything from Phillipe. Really, I haven't heard too many drivers being mentioned that I'd particularly object to. Still some long, agonising weeks 'til Long Beach, but things aren't as bad as they could be, by a long way.