News On F1 Forums - Talk Formula 1

mlittle wrote:Less than 12 months after selling Minardi F1 to Red Bull, it appears former F1 team principal Paul Stoddart is set to return to running a team, this time in the Champ Car World Series. Stoddart confirmed to Autosport magazine that such a team is in the works; Stoddart has been working with Dutch real estate magnate Harrie Muermans to secure funding and sponsorship for the team. As to who his drivers will be........Stoddart mentioned several; the leading candidates are current Dale Coyne Racing driver Jan Heylen, and current Red Bull Racing F1 friday driver Robert Doornbos. However, Stoddart also mentioned that any decisions wouldn't be finalized until October at the earliest.

Ahah,.....F1 could look a tad different in 2008

Julian Mayo wrote:

mlittle wrote:Less than 12 months after selling Minardi F1 to Red Bull, it appears former F1 team principal Paul Stoddart is set to return to running a team, this time in the Champ Car World Series. Stoddart confirmed to Autosport magazine that such a team is in the works; Stoddart has been working with Dutch real estate magnate Harrie Muermans to secure funding and sponsorship for the team. As to who his drivers will be........Stoddart mentioned several; the leading candidates are current Dale Coyne Racing driver Jan Heylen, and current Red Bull Racing F1 friday driver Robert Doornbos. However, Stoddart also mentioned that any decisions wouldn't be finalized until October at the earliest.

Ahah,.....F1 could look a tad different in 2008

It could indeed; ChampCar will definitely look a bit different in 2008. The primary reason for all the hubbub over who'll be in the series seems to be centering around the new Panoz DP01 ChampCar........if the costs are truly lower than for the current Lola B2K and its' myriad of variants, there may be a slew of new teams, especially for 2007.

With all the on-track(and off-track) activity at last Sunday's Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose, three drivers have been given various penalties as a result................

~~for avoidable contact w/driver Andrew Ranger late in the race, resulting in Ranger's DNF as a result, PKV Racing's Katherine Legge was placed on three races probation(Denver, Montreal and Road America)
~~for entering the racing surface in a hazardous manner, Forsythe's Paul Tracy was docked 7 championship pts. and placed on probation for three races(DEN, MTL and RA)
~~for their slugfest in the pitlane afterwards, both Tracy and Team Australia's Alex Tagliani were fined an undisclosed amount of money

According to multiple sources(speedtv.com and autoracing1.com) RuSport Racing had conditionally signed current IndyCar Series driver Dario Franchitti to drive in place of the injured Cristiano da Matta in the final three races of the 2006 ChampCar season, beginning at Road America and including Surfers Paradise and the season finale in Mexico City. The only reason, according to Speed's Robin Miller, the deal isn't done completely is that the Scotsman is still contractually obligated to drive for the IRL's Andretti-Green Racing team; however, Franchitti's contract expires at the end of the IRL season finale in Chicagoland, making him a free agent. Both Franchitti, currently in the UK, and RuSport owner Carl Russo have denied that such a deal exists, but rumors are that Franchitti would like to return to the ChampCar series after four seasons in the IRL.

mlittle wrote:According to multiple sources(speedtv.com and autoracing1.com) RuSport Racing had conditionally signed current IndyCar Series driver Dario Franchitti to drive in place of the injured Cristiano da Matta in the final three races of the 2006 ChampCar season, beginning at Road America and including Surfers Paradise and the season finale in Mexico City. The only reason, according to Speed's Robin Miller, the deal isn't done completely is that the Scotsman is still contractually obligated to drive for the IRL's Andretti-Green Racing team; however, Franchitti's contract expires at the end of the IRL season finale in Chicagoland, making him a free agent. Both Franchitti, currently in the UK, and RuSport owner Carl Russo have denied that such a deal exists, but rumors are that Franchitti would like to return to the ChampCar series after four seasons in the IRL.

Scratch the above............a driver shootout will be held after this week's round at Road America for the seat.

According to news reports from Australia, there will be a memorial held for the late Peter Brock, one of Australia's most legendary racecar drivers. Quoting the operations manager for the upcoming Lexmark Indy 300, David Bennett,

We discussed a Peter Brock memorial tribute at our mamagement meeting today and its' still to be finalized, but we will definitely be doing something. We'll probably make a decision on that later this week and an announcement early next week. It'll be something based around the V8 Supercars because obviously he was a big part of that, but the details are yet to be finalized. We'll do something on-track---maybe involving one of his old cars---but we don't know exactly what it's going to be yet.

Brock, a legend in Australian racing who won the legendary Bathurst 1000 nine times in his career, was killed in a racing crash during the Targa West rally northeast of Perth, Australia; a state funeral for Brock is scheduled for Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia. Meanwhile, preparations are continuing for the penultimate round of the 2006 Champ Car World Series, scheduled for 20-22 October 2006 on the Australian Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise.

According to multiple sources(autoracing1.com and speedtv.com), current PKV Racing co-owner Dan Pettit has bought out control of RuSport Racing from current owner Carl Russo; the formal announcement is expected later this week. The team's priorities, according to the team's president, Jeremy Dale are to re-sign Justin Wilson for 2007 and decide who will drive the team's second car, Cristiano da Matta or another, as yet unnamed, driver.

mlittle wrote:According to multiple sources(autoracing1.com and speedtv.com), current PKV Racing co-owner Dan Pettit has bought out control of RuSport Racing from current owner Carl Russo; the formal announcement is expected later this week. The team's priorities, according to the team's president, Jeremy Dale are to re-sign Justin Wilson for 2007 and decide who will drive the team's second car, Cristiano da Matta or another, as yet unnamed, driver.

I doubt CdM would be ready

I doubt he'll be either.....then again, no one thought Shorty's rehabilitation would go along as well as it is so far.