Champ Car Delays Standing Starts
Citing the need for further testing of its standing-start procedures, the Champ Car World Series today announced that it would not use standing starts for the first three races of the 2007 season. “Safety is our concern and we feel we need to fine-tune our standing-start process before we implement it,” said Champ Car Vice-President of Operations Tony Cotman. “We will continue to work with the teams and the manufacturers to find the safest and most reliable option for the standing-start process with an eye toward using them at Portland if possible.”
The Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda adopted standing starts last season, introducing them in Cleveland only after extensive testing to ensure safety for all of the participants. This season, Champ Car has practiced standing starts at the Houston and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca test sessions, the latter of which took place this past weekend. The series will open its 2007 season with the Vegas Grand Prix, April 6-8, to be followed by the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 13-15 and the Grand Prix of Houston April 20-22.
Champ Car Spring Training Wraps Up
Three-time and defending Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais spent most of the 2007 preseason watching the young guys take turns at the top of the time charts, but he saved the best for last on a sunny Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Bourdais shattered the unofficial track record at the 2.238-mile road course in Monterey, California – which was much more of an accomplishment that it might seem given the fact that the track record had been set by a Toyota-powered Formula 1 car in 2006. The Flying Frenchman used his absolute final lap of the preseason to break the F1 record, stopping the clocks at 1:05.880 (122.295 mph), getting across the timing line just before a session-ending red flag flew.
“I knew where Bruno (Junqueira) was when the red came out and I knew I was past it, and I knew I was four- or five-tenths ahead of the record so I said ‘screw it, I’m going for it’,” Bourdais grinned. “We didn’t particularly chase the record but we had our eye on it and I am happy that we were able to get it.”
Bourdais was also given a check for $5,000 by the series for breaking the mark, as Champ Car posted an Old West-style bounty on the record, set by Ricardo Zonta a year ago. Bourdais’ time was the best of the two-day session and showed that he will once again be the man to beat when the engines fire for the year’s first race, April 6-8 in Las Vegas. His best time gave him more than a half-second margin over second-placed Will Power in today’s final times.
Will Power led a bevy of rookies that continued their fierce pursuit of the top spot, with the Australian logging in with a top time of 1:06.424 (121.294 mph). The sophomore was followed by a trio of first-year pilots with Neel Jani taking third ahead of Graham Rahal and reigning Atlantic champion Simon Pagenaud. Veteran Paul Tracy was sixth on the day with a top time of 1:06.707 (120.779 mph), wrapping up what the 2003 champion termed his team’s ‘best test of the year’.
In all 17 drivers turned laps over the two-day test session, with nine of them preparing for their first Champ Car seasons. One of those was former Indy Lights and Champ Car Atlantic driver Matt Halliday, who ended up in the top 10 in his first weekend with the Indianapolis-based team. Today’s testing, which culminated in an hour of standing-start practice, was the last for the Champ Cars for the 2007 preseason. The teams will now go back and make final preparations for the season-opening Vegas Grand Prix, which will be directly followed by the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April; 13-15 and the Grand Prix of Houston April 20-22.
Saturday’s session times follow (laps run figure is for the entire two-day test):
Pos Driver Car Sponsor Team Time Speed Laps
1 Sebastien Bourdais 1 McDonald’s Newman Haas Racing 1:05.880 122.295 167
2 Will Power 5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia 1:06.424 121.294 172
3 Neel Jani 21 Red Bull PKV Racing 1:06.516 121.126 186
4 Graham Rahal 2 Newman Haas Racing 1:06.561 121.044 167
5 Simon Pagenaud 15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia 1:06.699 120.793 171
6 Paul Tracy 3 Indeck Forsythe Racing 1:06.707 120.779 136
7 Justin Wilson 9 CDW RuSPORT 1:06.755 120.692 57 *
8 Alex Tagliani 8 Rocketsports Racing 1:06.760 120.683 130
9 Matt Halliday 34 Conquest Racing 1:06.930 120.377 135
10 Robert Doornbos 14 Minardi Team USA 1:06.959 120.324 134
11 Bruno Junqueira 19 Dale Coyne Racing 1:07.048 120.165 90
12 Katherine Legge 11 Dale Coyne Racing 1:07.727 118.960 145
13 Tristan Gommendy 22 PKV Racing 1:08.325 117.919 93
14 Alex Figge 29 Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:08.521 117.581 143
15 Ryan Dalziel 28 Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:08.825 117.062 135
16 Andrew Ranger 19 Dale Coyne Racing 1:09.208 116.414 66
17 Zsolt Baumgartner 4 Minardi Team USA 1:10.415 114.419 53
*Ran 96 laps in the 9x car
A.J. Foyt IV Charged With D.U.I.
A.J. Foyt IV will keep his Indy-car ride with Vision Racing while a charge of driving under the influence is being settled, his employer said. "Based on what I know at this time, his status as a driver of the team is not affected pending disposition of the matter," Vision co-owner Tony George said Tuesday in an e-mail to The Star.
Foyt, 22, was charged Dec. 10 in Mecklenburg County, N.C. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 9.
The Indy Racing League has a pair of IndyCar Series races before then: the season-opening event March 24 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the St. Petersburg Grand Prix on April 1. IRL officials excused Foyt from a series of publicity functions today in the Midwest. Monday, Foyt made appearances in Kansas City and Wichita, Kan.(Indy Star)
First Indy 500 Entries Filed
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing filed the first entries March 7 for the 91st Indianapolis 500, naming 2004 Indy winner Buddy Rice and fan favorite Sarah Fisher as drivers for its two entries. The 91st Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 27 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Entries must be postmarked by midnight Wednesday, April 4.
Rice, from Phoenix, will drive the No. 15 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, with a backup car entered. Fran Reilly is the chief mechanic. Rice will attempt to make his fourth Indianapolis 500 start and his first with Dreyer & Reinbold, which he joined this year. He won the race from the pole in 2004, driving for Rahal Letterman Racing.
Fisher, a native of Commercial Point, Ohio, will drive the No. 5 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, with a backup car entered. Andy O'Gara is the chief mechanic. Three-time IndyCar Series Most Popular Driver Fisher will attempt to make her sixth Indianapolis 500 start and her first since 2004. Only Lyn St. James has made more Indy starts among female drivers, with seven. Fisher's best finish is 21st in 2004, with a best start of ninth in 2002.
PKV Racing Hires Tristan Gommendy
PKV Racing announced today that Tristan Gommendy has signed to be the second driver for the team during the 2007 Champ Car World Series season. Gommendy, who will pilot the #22 PKV Racing Cosworth/Panoz/Bridgestone machine, spent the 2006 season driving in GP2 and the World Series by Renault. The 27-year-old native of France started nine GP2 events for iSport International last year and four for Pons Racing in the World Series by Renault, earning one pole and one podium.
Gommendy began racing cars in 2001 driving in the Formula 3 France series where he started 11 races earning a pole and two podium finishes in route a sixth place finish in the championship. He also ran four other selected Formula 3 events worldwide including the F3 Korea Super Prix where he finished 10th. In 2002, Gommendy had an outstanding season taking the Formula 3 France championship with five wins, 10 poles and 10 podiums in 14 races. He also captured the Formula 3 Macau GP and finished third at the Masters of Formula 3. Moving to Formula Renault V6 Eurocup in 2003, Gommendy placed fourth in the championship with one win, three poles and eight podiums in 18 races. In 2004, he joined the Formula Nissan World Series and placed fifth with five podiums in 16 races. The 2005 season saw Gommendy run the World Series by Renault where he finished fourth with one win, one pole and 15 podiums in 17 races.
Commenting on his move to the Champ Car World Series and PKV Racing, Gommendy said, “This is a great opportunity for me. I am looking forward to joining PKV Racing and competing in Champ Cars. I think Neel and I will be good teammates and I am looking forward to a competitive season.” Gommendy will test a Champ Car for the first time beginning tomorrow during the Champ Car World Series Spring Training, March 9-10, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
Alex Tagliani Returns To Rocketsports
After successful runs together back in 2003 and 2004, Rocketsports Racing is proud to announce the return of Alex Tagliani to the team for the 2007 Champ Car World Series season with the hopes of picking up with where they left off – in victory lane.
Rocketsports driver Tagliani returns for his eighth season in the Champ Car World Series, behind the wheel of Rocketsports’ #8 Panoz DP01. A true Champ Car veteran, the 34-year-old driver began racing in the series back in 2000, when it was known as CART. He has made 117 starts, earning five poles and 14 podium finishes. His return to the team reflects the positive relationship that was established during his two-year run.
In 2003, Rocketsports Racing, a successful multi-car effort in the Trans-Am Series, branched out to open-wheel racing for the first time joining the Champ Car World Series. While the name was new to the Champ Car World Series, it brought together a force of reputable experts and they achieved impressive results in their first year with Tagliani. The new crew and driver were among the first in Champ Car history to prove their strength with a third-place podium finish in the second race of their rookie year. Tagliani led the rookie Rocketsports Champ Car team to three podium finishes and two pole starts. In addition to eleven top-ten finishes in 2003, he earned 13 top-ten starts, and finished tenth in the 2003 championship standings with 97 points.
The successful relationship between team and driver continued into the next season. The famed-French Canadian earned his first career win and first for the then sophomore Rocketsports Champ Car team after starting 13th on the grid in 2004 at Road America. With the win, another podium finish in Cleveland, and consistency in both qualifying and finishing races, Tagliani was able to earn his best-career finish in Champ Car sitting seventh in the 2004 championship standings with 218 points
Tagliani returns to the team after earning his fifth consecutive top-ten finish in the Champ Car season standings. A Toyota Atlantic Championship graduate, Tagliani competed in the Champ Car feeder series for four seasons before making his way to the top ranks. He earned six wins and eight poles during his time in Atlantics, finishing in the top five of the season standings during his last three seasons. In 1994, Tagliani placed fifth in his first professional open-wheel race, the F1600 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec (future site of a new Champ Car venue this season). Prior to his professional racing debut, the Montreal-native dominated numerous Formula 125, Formula A Karting, FF2000, Ice Racing and 100cc competitions, earning 10 championship titles between 1987-1993.
Champ Car Announces Broadcast Team
Rick Benjamin, a longtime veteran of motorsports television, and former driving champion Jon Beekhuis will be in the booth as coverage of the Champ Car World Series returns to ESPN in 2007. The renewed relationship will begin with the April 22 Champ Car race at Houston’s Reliant Park street circuit.
Beekhuis, who has been a pit reporter for most of his 16-year television career, will move into the booth as analyst this year with Benjamin, play-by-play announcer for Champ Car’s TV coverage the past three years. Bill Stephens and Cameron Steele will report from the pits and Michelle Beisner will be a feature reporter on the telecasts.
Benjamin is one of the most versatile auto racing announcers on television, having called the action for more than a dozen forms of motorsports for ESPN, SPEED, WTBS and TNN, as well as on MRN Radio. Beekhuis, the 1988 Indy Lights driving champion and a competitor in Champ Car for four seasons, started his television career as a pit reporter on ESPN’s Champ Car coverage in 1991.
Stephens also has a past association with ESPN, having covered NHRA drag racing on television and for ESPN Radio and ESPN.com. Steele, an active and successful off-road racer, joined the Champ Car TV team last year. Beisner has worked as a reporter for the NFL Network, Fox Sports Net and Rocky Mountain Sports in addition to her Champ Car television work last year.
Thirteen events of the international open-wheel racing series are scheduled to be televised on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPN on ABC in 2007, with the networks exclusively airing the series in 2008.
The networks have a long history with Champ Car that began in 1981 when the first race ever aired live on ESPN was a Champ Car event from Milwaukee won by Mike Mosley. Series events appeared on the networks through the 2001 season. Many of the great moments in the history of the series were seen live on ESPN and ABC including Alex Zanardi’s 1997 win in Cleveland where he introduced the world to victory doughnuts and Mario Andretti’s final Champ Car win at Phoenix in 1993.
Foyt Honored For 50 Years In Racing
Four Indianapolis 500 wins. Seven national championships. Sixty-seven victories. A.J. Foyt has accomplished more in his career than any driver could imagine. The 2007 season marks Foyt's 50th anniversary season of participation in Indy car racing. To help celebrate this milestone, the IndyCar Series, A.J. Foyt Racing and ABC Supply Co., the primary sponsor of Foyt's IndyCar Series team, have developed initiatives for fans and customers to enjoy.
"I really appreciate all that the IRL and ABC Supply are doing to make this season even more special for me," said Foyt, the 500-Mile Race's first four-time winner and the only man to win Indy, the 24 Hours of LeMans and the Daytona 500. I feel real fortunate to have made a living from being a race driver. It's been very successful for me and I've had a lot of fun. Even though I'm crippled today from race cars, I don't know of anything I'd change because, all in all, the good's offset the bad. I wouldn't trade careers with anyone."
Fans can visit a unique walking timeline chronicling Foyt's unparalleled career that will be displayed at each domestic racetrack that hosts the series. The timeline is 80 feet long and features pictures from the start of his Indy car driving career in 1957 to his first Indianapolis 500 triumph to his present role as owner of A.J. Foyt Racing, which has garnered two IndyCar Series championships and the 1999 victory in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." The display also incorporates memorabilia from Foyt's personal collection. Additionally, the walking timeline is flanked by the No. 14 Gilmore Racing Team Special, just like the car Foyt piloted to victory at the 1977 Indianapolis 500 and the No. 14 ABC Supply Co. Dallara/Honda/Firestone, similar to the car that is being driven by Darren Manning for A.J. Foyt Racing this season.
This display will be set up in the IndyCar Series Fan Zone in the midway during event weekends. The display was designed by the IndyCar Series, A.J. Foyt Racing and ABC Supply Co. and will be transported by Indianapolis-based Sinden Racing Services.
ABC Supply Co. also has created promotional opportunities for its customers to help celebrate not only Foyt's 50th anniversary season in Indy car competition, but the company's 25th anniversary.
The "25/50 Anniversary Sweepstakes" honors ABC Supply's 25th anniversary and Foyt's 50th anniversary in Indy car racing. The Grand Prize is a limited-edition stretched canvas painting depicting highlights from Foyt's legendary career and the First Prize is a framed lithograph of the painting. Each ABC Supply branch will award one Grand Prize and two First Prizes and will hold drawings for a variety of other anniversary-related items. The promotion runs May 1 through June 8. Contractors can enter the sweepstakes at any ABC Supply branch.
For race fans, the company is designing an autograph card, which will include cars from Foyt's historic past as well as the current No. 14 ABC Supply Co. IndyCar Series car. During May, a special autograph card featuring a miniature timeline of Foyt's career highlights will be handed out to race fans. ABC Supply Co., in its third season of partnership with A.J. Foyt Racing, will again be the title sponsor of the June 3 race at The Milwaukee Mile, named in Foyt's honor.
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