A Box Full of Mays

[Liz]

With Chris Pook standing by beaming benignly, thus lending at least some credence to the bones being thrown to the inceasingly irritated fans, Derek Daly offered the following coy remarks in the pre-qualifying show. I know that a few of them are true, but I wish they'd either or get off the pot here.

1. Stefan Johanssen may field a two-car team next year with a couple of European drivers I have never heard of.

2. Tags may have the second seat at Newman-Haas sewed up.

3. Herdez Competition may be fielding a two-car team which may include Roberto Moreno.

4. Jourdain Jr. may have signed his contract with Rahal for next season.

If there were others I can't remember them. But two of these I know are true.

[macdaddy]

Stefan said he was at Mexico to "tie up a few loose ends" and things looked "really good". Herdez is up-in-the-air regarding Justin Wilson or Roberto Moreno. That is, if they do field two cars. And it sounds like Gigante may have stepped up their effort in support of Jourdain and an announcement is imminent this weekend...

[Liz]

Maybe.

[f1manoz]

Well, at least they are all positive remarks, and not saying this team may leave, etc...

I reckon announcements will come on Sunday after the race, then during the weeks running into the CART night.

[jetsetter]

Hopefully most of the rumours are true so the series at long last can distribute some positive news & give everyone something to look forward to over the off season.

[*formula3*]

Originally posted by Liz
team next year with a couple of European drivers I have never heard of.

who are they?

the rest of the news all sound very good!

[GoFaster]

I may be wrong,but I really don't expect any significant news from Pook this weekend.I think if he had anything it would be out by now.That's not to say CART is doomed.

[Liz]

They're saving it all up to either report at the Miami B2B or at the Banquet -- both of which exclude the fans, incidentally.

I'll see if I can find out those European drivers' names again; because they were names I had never heard I instantly forgot them.

[macdaddy]

More "mays" from CART.com:


Gentilozzi added that he plans to confirm his sponsor and driver at the CART end of season banquet next week in Miami. "There are half a dozen quality drivers out there right now who are capable of winning races, including Jimmy Vasser, Max Papis and Alex Tagliani," Gentilozzi remarked. "We don't care about nationality-it's all about performance."


...Alex Tagliani has been linked to the Rocketsports CART effort. But it now appears that the French-Canadian could line up alongside Bruno Junqueira at Newman/Haas Racing in 2003. "I talked to Paul Gentilozzi and we had a meeting in Las Vegas," Tagliani said. "He's a good guy and he would be an interesting team owner. I want to keep my options open, but going to a new team is a risk. It might work out, but if it didn't, I might have a hard time getting a contract at the end of next year."
"It's looking very good," Tagliani admitted on Saturday of his negotiations with Newman/Haas. "I'm under contract to Player's and they have been involved in some of my conversations with other teams. They said they would help me get a ride. I've had some conversations with Carl Haas and it's getting closer and closer. For sure it's an attraction to Carl to get a driver whose salary is already paid. It's a bonus for him and it would give him a very solid basis to run a second car."

[macdaddy]

John Lopes, CART's vice president of racing operations, said there will probably be 10 countries represented among the drivers when the new season starts Feb. 23 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

and...

"We're thinking very, very hard about how to have a CART program for next year," (Ganassi's Mike) Hull said. But he added, "At the present, we don't have the financing for it."

[mac]

Translate:

We don't want to leave, but Toyota don't want us playing with somebody elses engines.

[StuiE]

During the telecast leigh Diffey said that Gigante was with Michel and Rahal for another two seasons

[macdaddy]

That one's not a "maybe"! Great news for Rahal, faced with losing Shell. If I'm not mistaken, Gigante is also stepping it up a notch.

[Bizzo5000]

Gentilozzi said his new driver "May be Canadian, he may be Italian"
I think we all know who he means.

[greg.n]

Yeah and Bobby said they were talking very hard with Shell to get support to continue with Jimmy! Wait and see who lines up for round 1 next year. You will have 20 cars!

[Liz]

Today Players will announce their line-up for next year (at 9:30 a.m.) and at last Paul will say what he thinks. Although not all of it yet, but look for some interesting announcements!

Did you see in the "Fantasy Racing League" that Brack's engineer is one of the team owners? Take a look at the Team Ecurie USA PR and you'll get a bit of news too!

P.S. To Shaggy: if you want to come back next season and run a team with us, you are welcome! And congrats to Kenny for an excellent win (and his team for that awesome pit stop on lap 53 when all about him were losing their way ... )

[Liz]

Another team about to be announced shortly: Wayne Taylor, formerly of Cadillac, and possibly one of his two drivers will be Bryan Herta, formerly of just about everywhere.

Hands up who believes that he ought to also hire Memo Gidley and call his team "Dammit Give Us Another Chance!"

Good luck to all of them and we will welcome you to the club!