Walker Racing announces two entries...

carsten66 · 18 Mar 2005, 19:29 (Ref:1255424)

WALKER RACING ANNOUNCES TWO CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES ENTRIES FOR 2005 SEASON with Tag and Marrshall...

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=8759

I've never expected that combination...

Dov · 18 Mar 2005, 19:35 (Ref:1255428)

That's great news, but what does this mean for Haberfeld!?!?

StickShift · 18 Mar 2005, 19:43 (Ref:1255435)

Good for Tagliani and Walker.

...But Marcus Marshall is just another rookie without nearly enough experience to make a good impression. IMO, it's a waste of seat. A car is a car though.

I was really hoping Valiante would get a ride at Walker... :\ I hope he can work out a deal with Coyne.

macdaddy · 18 Mar 2005, 19:45 (Ref:1255436)

Talk about "new" news - I was just visiting the website 1/2-hour ago and there was no such story! Thanks, carsten66.

Quote:

Piloting car #15 will be... Alex Tagliani. He will be joined on the Walker squad by Queensland, Australia rookie Marcus Marshall, driving Car #5.

Having Canadian and Aussie drivers is obviously of the utmost importance, but Dov raises a good point about Haberfeld, as does StickShift about Valiante. Perhaps Valiante would get greater consideration from "the-powers-that-be" if not for the imminent signing of Ranger?

Great news, nonetheless! Two cars, confirmed!

Kicking-back · 18 Mar 2005, 20:55 (Ref:1255475)

Good news for Tagliani - but having seen Marshall in British F3 last year, he's not ready for this.

**GTRMagic** · 18 Mar 2005, 20:56 (Ref:1255476)

Marcus Marshall can drive... but he rarely stays in a formula/series longer than 10 minutes to get experience over a season, and to get used to the cars... and put some mega results on the board.

It will be interesting to see how he goes, the sponsorship brought from hope has to have been a factor in securing the ride as well...

Meantime WPS (sponsor of David Besnard's one off at Gold Coast Indy) is said to still be looking for an involvement in ChampCar.

BootsOntheSide · 18 Mar 2005, 21:08 (Ref:1255490)

Maybe this is Walker's chance to get some decent results together, with Lolas and a good lead driver. Tag should be reasonably happy with this deal, as I suspect Walker know how to make the car competitive.

Marshall might not be ready, he has shown some potential but not over a long period of time. He's the kind of driver whose path towards the top would be a lot easier if Atlantics had more status and appeal.

Haberfeld should be in somewhere, he said he would be, but we'll ahve to wait and see where - Conquest are full, and only Coyne really look like an obvious destination, which could squeeze Servia out altogether.

**gomick** · 18 Mar 2005, 22:00 (Ref:1255525)

go marcus

- are wps going to be his sponsor

**GTRMagic** · 19 Mar 2005, 09:31 (Ref:1255841)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomick

go marcus

- are wps going to be his sponsor

Whispers around Adelaide at the Supercar meeting seem to have WPS doing a separate deal with another team as title sponsor/investor... although i am not sure what Australian driver they would be targeting for the lead and/or second seats

Jordi · 18 Mar 2005, 22:04 (Ref:1255528)

"which could squeeze Servia out altogether"

Which would be horrible news for the huge fanbase of Oriol, consisting of, em, me.
However Walker's announcement is very good. Two more cars in, and the 15 in for the whole season, as opposed to last year's occasional appearances.

Omega99 · 18 Mar 2005, 23:28 (Ref:1255589)

I like Oriol, and I'd love to see Valiente get the seat he's deserved for years now. That'd be my choice for the Coyne lineup, and a pretty strong one at that.

buza · 18 Mar 2005, 23:56 (Ref:1255608)

Great news that us aussies have finally got a full time champ car driver

enemy-ace · 19 Mar 2005, 00:21 (Ref:1255625)

I think Tag should do well at Walker. It's an experienced team that he should be able to work well with. I think it is a good place for this young aussie to get his start in CC as well.
Interesting how Walker thanked Team Rahal for helping them get up to speed with their new Lolas.

JohnSSC · 19 Mar 2005, 00:59 (Ref:1255648)

Here's hoping Tags consistently finishes ahead of the Rocketsports entries...

Jordi, I like Servia as well. It galls me that he may be on the sidelines while certain other drivers under the age of nineteen who shall remain nameless keep a full time ride.

Ac. · 19 Mar 2005, 02:30 (Ref:1255689)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

Here's hoping Tags consistently finishes ahead of the Rocketsports entries...

You said it...

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

Jordi, I like Servia as well. It galls me that he may be on the sidelines while certain other drivers under the age of nineteen who shall remain nameless keep a full time ride.

Patience JohnSSC, maybe next year the draw for sponsors and drivers will see your nameless driver on the outside, or better yet helping a new team get off the ground with his big bucks!

Someone does need to find Servia a ride for this year!

D.R.T. · 19 Mar 2005, 03:14 (Ref:1255702)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

Jordi, I like Servia as well. It galls me that he may be on the sidelines while certain other drivers under the age of nineteen who shall remain nameless keep a full time ride.

These are them times.

Great news for Tags and Marshall. Great for the Canadian and Aussie events aswell. While Marshall showed speed, if not consistency in his past seasons the teaming of him with experienced Tags and Walker should see him develop. Remember how Walker helped less experienced Besnard at Surfers last year.

Unlucky loser for sure Haberfield, grinded out great results last year.

Haberfield and Servia for Coyne ?
If not theres still a HVM seat going.

macdaddy · 19 Mar 2005, 03:23 (Ref:1255704)

Doom and Gloom must find a way to permeate yet another thread, I see.

Snrub · 19 Mar 2005, 03:24 (Ref:1255705)

Glad to see Walker on the grid and with TWO cars. I would have liked to have seen Tag in a better seat, but perhaps Walker can again start some magic happening. Any further thoughts on Marshall? I recall that his name was thrown around quiet some time ago as well. The series really needed an Ausi, so I think this has to be good news. Partnering with Tag is a good way to bring along a young driver.

Comments on quotes from the announcement:

I have to give Team Rahal a special thanks for their assistance to us in adapting to the Lola chassis. I'd really like to see the details on that. Is it possible that Rahal sold their setup catalog to Walker? That would be cool, no staggering in the dark to get a baseline setup!

Media speculation had us gone from the series and closing our doors but the reality is we have had the elements of our two car multi-year commitment for nearly two months now. It takes time to find new sponsor partners. This commitment is clearly an indication of how the series is gaining strength and the renewed interest of companies in the future of the Champ Car World Series....During the next two weeks there will be further exciting announcements made regarding Walker Racing’s sponsor partners.
Ummm...Derek, didn't you say all that worrysome stuff to the media? It sounds like he has legit sponsors, I can't wait to hear some details.

marcus · 19 Mar 2005, 06:09 (Ref:1255744)

great news.

and as for Marcus Marshall , he will surprise you guys this year , he is a very quick driver and has done very well in cars that he has had very limited time in.

and KB what are you on about ???

Marshall I believe actually won a round in BF3 last year , so thats gotta show that he is at least ready for something ?

The guy is very good and is gonna turn some heads (or Im gonna eat my words , either way dont bother me but I think he will do just fine

)

Kicking-back · 19 Mar 2005, 17:50 (Ref:1256135)

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcus

great news.

and as for Marcus Marshall , he will surprise you guys this year , he is a very quick driver and has done very well in cars that he has had very limited time in.

and KB what are you on about ???

Marshall I believe actually won a round in BF3 last year , so thats gotta show that he is at least ready for something ?

The guy is very good and is gonna turn some heads (or Im gonna eat my words , either way dont bother me but I think he will do just fine

)

The round he won was a good call on tyres in mixed weather - and well done to him for that.

But I stand by my opinion that someone who is regularly outside the top ten in Formula 3 is not ready for ChampCar.

James Courtney would have been a better Australian option, I believe.

But the decision's been made - so good luck to Mr Marshall and we'll see how he goes.

Hazza · 19 Mar 2005, 07:41 (Ref:1255783)

Snrubs first comment is also doubly interesting after PT went on record saying that AGR didn't allow Tracy to take any of the secrets of the Lola chassis on paper to forsythe...

Guess Rahal's a nice chap

Snrub · 21 Mar 2005, 18:16 (Ref:1258170)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hazza

Snrubs first comment is also doubly interesting after PT went on record saying that AGR didn't allow Tracy to take any of the secrets of the Lola chassis on paper to forsythe... Guess Rahal's a nice chap

But was that a case of PT saying "...So do you want to give me all the team's setup data?" If money exchanged hands, perhaps Walker would be in a different position. It's also possible that Walker's comment causes us to make something of little. eg. "Here's your Lola and this nob up here adjusts the wing height. Have fun, bye!"

mac · 21 Mar 2005, 22:17 (Ref:1258400)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

It's also possible that Walker's comment causes us to make something of little. eg. "Here's your Lola and this nob up here adjusts the wing height."

That "nob" is usually referred to as an engineer or mechanic.

stmookeyj033 · 19 Mar 2005, 09:47 (Ref:1255852)

Well that was a real shock to the system if ever I saw one. It had to be said though that when Haberfeld tested last week that Marshall was pictured getting a seat fitting. So maybe he knew that he had the gig from last week.

**GTRMagic** · 19 Mar 2005, 10:51 (Ref:1255893)

Marcus Marshall's sponsor signage was still on the DCR car when they went testing in the snow last week....

Its too hard to predict who will end up where when there are some obvious misdirects around....

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