CC News and Rumours

[Dov]

I nabbed this from the Champ Car forum over at Speedtv, so take it with a grain of salt!

Great news. My unlce signed Pemex as the HVM title sponsor and they will be paying good money ( i cannot disclose how much because i would get my ass kciked). Why Pemex is going to be such a big sponsor i dont know because they are a monopoly in mexico and Pemex is the only gasoline company in all of mexico so they dont have competition, but thats awesome that they are becoming a sponsor. So HVM has a big title sponsor now and they are most likely going to get more big mexican companies to jump on borad from what my uncle tells me (he just became director of the HVM team, along with still being the director of roshfrans speed racing). Also he says that michel is 90% plus signed to run for HVM next year.

Let's hope there's some truth to this rumour.

Dov

[StickShift]

As nice as it sounds, I'll take it with a grain of salt indeed. I have an incredibly tough time taking any posts that start with 'My uncle...' seriously.

[MLM]

Who's his "unlce" ?
(BTW, who's this person to begin with?)


Thanks, Dov and "Merry Christmas" ! (man, I love that "yule log" smiley!)
ps....could I have that "grain of salt" in a Margarita?

[Kicking-back]

If true, great news, but I fear it's probably not.

[BootsOntheSide]

I'll have tequilla and lime with it as well. I really don't see Jourdain at HVM - they're unlikely to be able to afford to run 3 cars, and have little reason to drop Ryan or Mario, unless they're desperate for funding.

[Kicking-back]

I am increasingly given to understand Michel will be an IndyCar driver in 2005....

Time will tell.

[codename_47]

Well, I'd certainly love this to be true......Team Mexico would be good and would certainly fill the granstands in a certain country twice per year!
(Hence why I'm given to understand no-one in Champcar is just going to let MD up and leave! )

However.....it's just a rumour sadly.....so no holding of breath will be done yet!

Stupid holidays stopping people announcing stuff....get back to work people!

[MLM]

Originally Posted by codename_47

Stupid holidays stopping people announcing stuff....get back to work people!

I'm off for another week...nana-nana-boo-boo!


Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.....
(downed with that grain of salt in my Margarita )

[indycool]

I don't think they have funding since Herdez pulled out, so if Pemex goes through, that will be a godsend to that team to keep it going. Dominguez is signed but I don't believe RHR is....last I heard, RHR was in contention for a seat at Rocketsports alongside Tags.

[Amar7605]

Bottom line is that who the hell knows.

And who the heck is 'unlce'?

[mountainstar]

I can tell you from first person experiences, that Pemex has some big dollars to throw around and throw it around they will. We'll see.

[GTRMagic]

As I understand it, the second PKV entry is being held for a driver of Australian background, yet to be chosen...

Whispers around suggest that the Gold Coat Indy experiment was a big hit with the backers of the project, being the Qld Government, Lexmark and presumably WPS as well... with a view to a full championship season on a PKV car....

This has come out of our end of the motorsport wilderness... so may also be taken with a grain of salt... but I presume PKV would be ok running 2 cars in different liveries in 2005?

[Raglanparade]

Ryan Briscoe is running in CART instead of IRL ??

There are only two Australians (other then MW) who i feel have the skill and lack of contractual agreements to steer a Champ Car for a whole season.

Ryan Briscoe is the obvious choice, but most likely headed to IRL in a Toyota powered car.

James Courtney is another talented aussie which not much on his plate at the moment, and could be lined up.

Will Davison and Will Power, although very quick when testing a Minardi, woudlnt have the funding to race (Davison just been signed for Larry as well)...

All the other skill in Australia is too old for Champ Cars.. Lowndes, Bright, Skaife, Ambrose, Ingall, hell i thought even Besnard was a little old to start Champ Cars.

Just out of curiousity.. Is David Besnard definatly signed for WPS in V8 Supercars in 2005 ??

Either way... i think most of our big talent is almost too old, and the young talent is underfunded.

James and Ryan are the only two Aussie guys who could stumble into a CART seat.

[GTRMagic]

It is anecdotally suggested that if one of the drivers you mention as a possible were to step foot in the US, that he is likely to be visited by the long arm of the law at the airport... and held for a loooooooooooonnnng time....

You missed one though... a driver who tested a much unloved 2nd string DCR car a couple of weeks before Christmas, and apparently blew teammate Oriol Servia away....

He has backing from No Limit property development... which was on the DCR car during the test....

Marcus Marshall, come on down

[mitchie]

I find it odd that the second PKV entry is/was being held for an Aussie when they tested Bjorn Wirdheim and Ryan Dalziel in November with one of that pair tipped to get the drive. Perhaps a PKV entry, but its unlikely that the Aussie will be at PKV methinks.

Briscoe? IRL as has already been said
Courtney? Would be logical, has been in JGTC this year, would be mega to see back in an open wheeler
Power? Wouldnt be a bad bet but seems to be aiming for a European gig in 2005
I reckon I could even name another half a dozen other young open wheel types who would give an arm for the opportunity though rather than scrounging around for the money to race in Europe or even Australia who would do a good job with time...

As you mentioned GTR, Marshall seems the man most likely. While Oriol Servia wasnt there for the DCR test you mentioned, he did times that stacked up well when compared with those that also tested

Day 1
Alex Figge (Toyota Atlantic, testing for Forsythe, 91 laps) - 53.57
Marcus Marshall (Aussie & British F3, testing for DCR, 68 laps) - 53.71
Bryan Sellers (Toyota Atlantic, testing for DCR, 130 laps) - 53.72
Andreas Wirth (Formula BMX, testing for Forsythe, 114 laps) - 54.43

Day 2
Michael Valiante (Champ Car/Atlantics, testing with DCR, 110 laps) - 51.88
Andrew Ranger (Toyota Atlantic, testing with Forsythe, 123 laps) - 52.07
Jarek Janis (F3000, Champ Car, DTM, testing with Forsythe, 107 laps) - 52.25
Marcus Marshall (Aus/British F3, testing with DCR, 90 laps) 52.45

[Raglanparade]

Out of four runners ??

I think James Courtney would be in the seat before Marcus Marshall, seeing Courtneys are more experienced racer..

Which driver would be taken by the long arm of the law at an american airport ??

[GTRMagic]

Ah, but Marcus has the budget to help swing the deal...

[Kicking-back]

Marcus is not ready and would damage his reputation by jumping in to CC too soon.

[GTRMagic]

What reputation would that be? The guy has a level of talent, yet has not stuck to a category or discipline for a full season to see if he is actually a contender....

If the PKV thing is a guaranteed 2 year deal, there will be rookie mistakes by the million in year one... but by year two that should be sorted.....

[StickShift]

Wait, wait, wait... all of a sudeen, PKV is going to take up an unproven rookie, over Bjorn Wirdheim and Ryan Dalziel? cuckoo... that makes little sense. A young unproven rookie would be better off given a ride with a backmarker team like Conquest, Coyne, or Walker.

[Liz]

Robin Miller took breath long enough from his IRL babble tonight to mention the Jourdain Jr./Mega Sponsor/CCWS rumour as if it were fact, but did not mention what team he will be with. I would imagine that RHR and Jourdain will swap seats -- that would make both teams symmetrical.

[D.R.T.]

Given the extensive testing PKV did with Wirdheim and Dalziel I'd be very surprised if anyone beat on of these guys to the seat.

As stickshift said, Kalkovens plan to get an Aussie in the championship will probably involve Conquest, Walker etc.

For me the obvious choice for an Aussie in the series would be Courtney. If he came in he would turn a few heads with his speed. However is he contracted to Toyota through the JGTC ??

Marcus Marshall I think would be a good choice, but a few more tests would be needed before you could say one way or the other.

The Jourdain, HVM deal is starting to sound like it has a bit of substance. However Liz, Jourdain and RHR swapping seats might cause a few probs, in that Wilson took Jourdains seat at Rusport. But as mentioned around here before, RHR will hopefully find a gig at Rocketsports.

[Dov]

Yeah, RHR can't be joining RuSport since they've added JW and Carl Russo has already stated that his team won't be expanding to three cars in 2005. RocketSports looks like the best bet for Ryan.

[Snrub]

Any other info from Miller last night or other rumours?

[macdaddy]

TSN article:

Canadian Michael Valiante says he's "cautiously optimistic" about his 2005 Champ Car plans. Valiante says since his debut in the season ending race in Mexico and the subsequent two-day test in Florida, interest has been building.

"The Mexico City race seems to have broken the log jam, and two different Champ Car teams are working to find the funding to run me in 2005," he said. "I have to keep up my own sponsor-hunting efforts, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic."

Dale Coyne Racing, who ran Valiante at the Florida test, and Walker Racing are believed to be the frontrunners for his services.

Perhaps not really "newsworthy", but my fingers are certainly crossed!
I'd LOVE to have a Canadian driving for Coyne.