Anyone have a new list?

[3state]

So, given the announcement by Chris Pollock of a one car team, expanding into a 2 car team in the near future, does anyone have the current list of confirmations and possibilities? Besides this always proves to be a popular topic of discussion of late.

I watched the web simulcast and if my memory serves me correctly there is still another team to be announced. Did anyone catch that??? So over to one of your guys with the new list as I've lost track...

[macdaddy]

Pook has promised a "new European ownership contingent".

Here's the list I've got jotted down on the back of an envelope...

1 - PK Racing (TBA)
1 - Corona Racing Team (Lavin) -Tech mngmnt of Walker Racing
1 - Conquest Racing (Haberfeld)
2 - American Spirit (TBA/TBA)
1 - Dale Coyne (Camathias)
2 - Newman-Haas (Junqueira/TBA)
1 - Fernandez Racing (Fernandez)
1 - Patrick Racing (Servia)
2 - Players/Forsythe (Tracy, Carpentier)
1 - Walker Racing (Gonzales)
1 - Rahal Racing (Jourdain)
1 - Herdez Competition (Dominguez)
1 - Rocketsports (TBA)

So that's 16.

[DNQ]

Yeah, looking nice isn't it macdaddy
Cosworth has 19 cars signed up to supply, Moreno and Bourdais will probably make up two of those cars. My guess is the European team could be the 19th car.

[macdaddy]

I've already counted Bourdais' ride in the 2 cars for N/Haas. But you can get to 19 by chalking in Moreno at Herdez, Yoong at Forsythe Championship, and the Euro team.

[3state]

ok now I'm up with it, thanks macdaddy...the european contingent would be BC motorsports or Brand was it??? There was a German team some time back on the list of possibilities. JAG or something?

[f1manoz]

Gee, CART is really dying isn't it? Oh no, they won't have enough cars, no-one wants to watch it, blah, blah, blah!

Long Live ChampCars!!!

[3state]

yeah, I've noticed haw certain knockers and naysayers (to put it politely) who shall remain nameless, who from time to time, post inflammatory rants predicting and even hoping for the death of CART have been somewhat silent of late? Too busy eating their crow pie perhaps????

[DNQ]

Originally posted by macdaddy
I've already counted Bourdais' ride in the 2 cars for N/Haas.

Oops, my mistake macdaddy, I should have looked a bit closer at your list.

[macdaddy]

Brand Motorsports is to contend the two European rounds.

Other names that have been floated around in the offseason include Michael Shank, BC Motorsports, Racing Engineering, Dick Simon and ORECA.

[sgw2]

TSN reported that

"Pook, who promised a 20-car grid for 2003, said there were 15 cars confirmed for the series thus far, with another five due to be announced soon. He said at least 18 would start the season at St. Peterburg."

http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_s...me=auto_racing

CART.com lists ten drivers in cars

1. Bruno Junqueira, Newman-Haas Lilly #11 (CART.com says #6)
2. Paul Tracy, Player's Forsythe
3. Patrick carpentier, Players Forsythe #32
4. Adrian Fernandez, Fernandez Racing/Tecate #51
5. Mario Dominguez, Herdez #55
6. Michel Jourdain, Gigante Team Rahal #9
7. Oriol Servia, Visteon Patrick #20
8. Joel camathias, Coyne racing #19
9. Mario Haberfeld, Conquest (#34)
10. Roberto Gonzales, Walker Racing (#5)

Four cars have been announced formally without drivers

11. Rocketsports/Johnson Controls (announce Tagliani Friday)
12. PK Racing, driver TBA
13. American Spirit Team Johansson, driver TBA
14. American Spirit Team Johansson, driver TBA

The next one is based on Keith Wiggins adding 11 staff and saying they planned to race a second car

15. Herdez, almost certainly with Roberto Moreno

(Note Johansson's team is far from financially secure, hence no driver announcements. I suspect his Reynards are from Pat Patrick, since he sent seven off to be refitted for Fords - this is an educated guess)

The five I think Pook is working on are these

16. Newman-Haas second car, Sebastian Bourdais possible
17. Patrick second car, Bryan Herta possible
18. Walker second car, Rodolpho Lavin or other Mexican?
19. extra Forsythe/Rocketsports car, Alex Yoong if he finds money
20. BC Motosports, Giorgio Pantani - a no go IMHO, despite Pook trying to move Brewer out

That is my guess.

[SFonseca]

Racing Engineering and ORECA will not comepte in CART 2003 season.

[macdaddy]

I was of the understanding that Lavin's ride with the Corona Racing Team was confirmed. (Under the technical management of Walker Racing). If not, then my "list" should only be 15. That, of course, is counting on a second N/Haas entry.

[macdaddy]

Now I'm looking at the "teams" listing on CART.com. This shows American Spirit Team Johansson as fielding only one car! It lists 13 cars and 10 confirmed drivers.
http://www.cart.com/Teams/TeamIndex.asp
I'm not sure what to think anymore!

[sgw2]

Walker stated flatly that Lavin's camp was not telling the truth, that no contract had been signed. CART.com removed Lavin's name from their driver list.

[unofficialf3000]

According to Autosport LAST week (9/1/03, or 1/9/03 for you guys across the Atlantic!):

"German CART aspirant, JAG Racing is unlikely to be ready for the opening race of the series this year, but the team hopes to be on the grid with Andre Lotterer from the second or third round onwards."

Don't know what the latest on this team is...

[sgw2]

MacDaddy,

that is pretty accurate. Only 8 cars have sponsorship, possibly 8 1/2 if you figure the second Herdez car; excpet that they lost associate sponsor Corona.

The best guess is Pook can give teams $1.5 M ($30 M divided by 20) to start a team, with $850,000 in ESP cash available over the year. It still costs perhaps $3-4 M to field a one car team, maybe $5-6 M for a two car team (with the reduced costs), not counting driver salary and crash budget. Teams are attempting to find funded drivers to close the gap. Dale Coyne is an expert at that, as would be Dick Simon should he be on the list (a fair replacement for BC Motorsporst and Dana Brewer). I expect some drivers to be replaced during the course of the year, as their budgets run out. I also expect races with car count requirements to have a few extra entries. The field will likely fluctuate between 15 and 20.

It appears Andre Lotterer has some budget. With JAG, as with Brand Motorspirst, I doubt a formal team will be created. More likely a partnership with an existing shop in the ESP to field a car at selected events.

[macdaddy]

Noticing that the "teams" page on CART.com is also listing N/Haas for one car. It would be cool if Newman could entice one of the Hollywood studios to sponsor a car. They could change the livery week-to-week in order to advertise whatever new movie they've got in the theatres. That would certainly provide for some pretty cars!

Come to think of it, didn't a movie company become associate sponsor for a few rounds last year, advertising Newman's movie?

[f1manoz]

Perhaps we will not see some of those drivers until AFTER St. Pete's...

[mac]

The whole BC Motorsports thing is intriguing to me. Pantano has flatly said that he will be in ChampCars this year. Why would such a promising driver come out and announce this if there wasn't a very good chance of it happening?

I really hope it comes off, as I think Pantano's a massive star in the making.

PS. I've also heard that Pineapple Racing are in talks with Giorgio.

[3state]

yes after months of silence, I've heard the same rumours about Pineapple Racing. I hear they're planning to field a three car team, with the possibly of a fourth and fifth car by conl beach. Rumour has it that their major sponsor is Chiquito and that the cars are painted to look like giant bananas.

Another team I've heard rumours about is Team Plenum. So far however, sponsorship remains a void as does the driver, and Team Plenum are confident that they'll have no cars on the grid by St Petersburg. Read it on Champweb!!!