Bezzy in a Champ car?

Has anyone else hear what I have about David Besnard being given what was Josh Hunt's drive at Gold Coast Indy? good on him. lets hope he can show them a thing or two! I'm told he did quite well when he was racing formula Atlantics in the States.

[Chucky]

Be interested to see if he can shake off teh sedan hangover. It is a great pity that Courtney didn't get this drive.

[Crash Test]

Probably the Toyota tie up might have made it a bit hard. Who will drive the Bessy mobile in the V8s?

I'll take the seat if it's free!

[Archer]

Neil McFadyen or John McIntyre will take over the #23 car on the Gold Coast depending on who does better in the enduros.

[Gaz170]

Originally posted by EMR39
Has anyone else hear what I have about David Besnard being given what was Josh Hunt's drive at Gold Coast Indy? good on him. lets hope he can show them a thing or two! I'm told he did quite well when he was racing formula Atlantics in the States.

Yeah, I heard Josh had the choice of the Surfers drive, or another full season in Atlantics. He figured his career would do better having another year under him.

Sounds like it could be a win-win situation here.

Bets of luck to both Josh & David, and whoever gets David seat in the Falcon at Surfers.

[stmookeyj033]

Originally posted by Crash Test
Probably the Toyota tie up might have made it a bit hard. Who will drive the Bessy mobile in the V8s?

Personally I couldn't believe his name was mentioned considering that Kalkhoven probably had Christian Murchison ahead of him.

As for the missing driver, I would like to think that McFadyen get the seat rather than McIntyre.

I'd say it was Mr Gore's choice of who to replace Josh with, considering he's fronting the money. That's just speculation though of course.

[MRJUCY]

It will be very interesting to see how Bezzy goes hopefully he can shake them up abit but you can't expect much of him since he hasn't been in an open wheeler in years apart from the little testing he will do between now & then.

[Mattracer]

I'm not sure Besnard has got it yet- didn't he have a test drive/evaluation in the US earlier this week?

[GTRMagic]

It was announced last Friday, I put it in a thread or three in here.... Bezzy has the gig....

[Frosty]

McFayden is replacing Bezzy in the v8 just for indy.

[Sultan]

I heard the Champ car team told Gore that Josh wasn't ready to take the plunge in a Champ Car following some dissapointing (for their goals) showings....

[Chucky]

I don't think Toyota had anything to do with Courtney not b getting the seat.

And Mr. Hunt wasn't given the option of the Surfers seat after his performance this year.

[krypto71]

How does everyone think Bezzy will go? Brighty did a fantastic job in the Della Penna car in 2000, and he had a year of Indy lights to get back into true race car mode.
Will be a tough gig for Bezzy, but I wish him all the best. Lets hope all the fans get behind him as much as they got behind Brighty.
Hopefully he will get some dry weather in the practice sessions too.

[Crash Test]

Hrmm, how well did Brighty go though? He didn't exactly overtake any cars on the track, pit strategy got him up into 4th place on the track.

[marcus]

yeah but brighty still did pretty well Crash , you have to admit that.

David for this year , Im really looking forward to this one , I hope he does well but I think its a bin it or win it effort by him , but Ive always thought he was a better openwheeler driver than a sedan driver.

i hope he does well enough and stays out of trouble and just enjoys the experience.

I will be cheering him on anyway

[Claude Balls]

Does any one how Bezzy went in todays test at Firebird Raceway in Arizona?

[retro]

If you go to the WPS racing web site there is a contact email address - they have replied to me in the past.

[Ray Singcar]

Apparently the test went well with Bezzy quoteing he settled into the car well and set compeitive times. More info at wps.net.au.

[RedNine Racing]

Thats good!It will be great to see him in the ChampCar series on the gold coast if he gets the job!

Are they thinking of him for the race seat for next year as well or is this a one-off thing?
Great to see him racin full time in the series hey!

[stoned pony]

Apparently hi-fives and applause all round. He covered 70 laps in stifling heat, ran good times and settled into the car after just a few laps.
He will have another test session with the team following the Bathurst 1000.

[GTRMagic]

From the racenews service....

Subject: V8 Supercars: BESNARD IMPRESSES IN ARIZONA (11436)

David Besnard
Sep 8 2004
BESNARD IMPRESSES IN ARIZONA

Australian V8 Supercar driver David Besnard’s quest to compete in a Champ Car in the Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast next month firmed dramatically today after a highly impressive test session in Arizona.

Besnard completed a full day of testing in one of Champ Car veteran Jimmy Vasser’s cars and earned applause from the US team for his speed and capacity to immediately adapt to the open wheelers.

Besnard, who drives for Australian businessman Craig Gore’s WPS Racing in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, completed about 70 laps in stifling conditions at the Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona.

His fastest lap times were very competitive with recent times posted at the circuit.

“It was an awesome experience to finally get into a Champ Car,” said Besnard.

“I was excited but a little nervous about the unknown. But after two laps I realised it was just another race car, albeit different to what I normally drive.

“I did some good times and was very happy at the end of the day. The team also gave me some excellent feedback and there were high fives and handshakes all round at the end.”

Besnard said Jimmy Vasser, who drives for series owner Kevin Kalkhoven’s PKV Racing, congratulated him on completion of the session.

“He told me that it appeared I picked it up really quickly,” said Besnard.

“Before today I wasn’t too sure how I would go if I made the field at the Lexmark Indy 300.

“Now that I’ve got this first session under my belt I believe that I could be competitive and I would hope to do Queensland proud.”

Craig Gore, who with Champ Car series owner Kevin Kalkhoven is seeking to get an Aussie into this year’s Gold Coast race, said Besnard’s performance today has heightened his confidence that a local driver will compete in the Lexmark Indy 300 from October 21 to 24.

“Obviously today was a great result and I am very proud to say we are moving closer to getting an Australian and, more importantly, a Queenslander into Indy,” said Gore.

“There is still a bit of work to do but it was a great effort by PKV Racing to give him the chance to test and, as a result, one would now have to say that Bezzy is a very high chance of being in the field.

“On today’s performance I just hope they don’t try to steal him from the V8s in the future.”

Gore said engineering data from today’s test would be analysed by PKV Racing in coming days before a decision on the next move was finalised.

It is anticipated that Besnard will return to the US in October for a second test session to ensure he is adequately prepared for the Lexmark Indy 300.

Besnard was this afternoon resting up after the session and preparing for a long flight back to Australia.

He is due to arrive in Melbourne at 7.30am on Friday, just three hours before he is due out on track for the first practice session as part of this weekend’s Betta Electrical Sandown 500, the ninth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

If all goes according to plan Besnard will next fly out to the US immediately after the following V8 Supercar round – the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Bathurst from October 7-10.

“It is extremely difficult to coordinate these test sessions between the V8 Supercar races but we have the first one completed and everything is looking good,” said Gore.

“Bezzy has shown in this test session that it is possible to go from the V8s into the Champ Cars and be competitive, so that gives us greater confidence we can do it again next month.”

Josh Hunt, who this year has competed in the Toyota Atlantics Championships in the US with the support of Gore’s Wright Patton Shakespeare Financial Group and Kalkhoven, was at the Firebird circuit today to cheer on his ‘team mate’.

Hunt, who drives his final race of the 2004 Toyota Atlantics series this weekend, will back up for another season in 2005, again with the support of Gore and Kalkhoven with a view to graduating into Champ Cars in 2006.

Assuming Besnard makes it to the start line at the Lexmark Indy 300, his car will carry the livery of the Wright Patton Shakespeare Financial Group.

Wright Patton Shakespeare has two Ford Falcons in the V8 Supercar series, with Besnard piloting Car 23 and ex-Formula One driver Alex Yoong piloting Car 48.

Besnard will compete in this weekend’s Sandown event with co-driver Neil McFadyen from Sydney, while Yoong’s partner will be Kiwi ace John McIntyre.

Very good news from all accounts, although he will be a tired race driver come the end of the Sandown weekend I think....

[RedNine Racing]

Sounds very promising.
Good lap times,high fives,consistent speed.

Good stuff Bezzy,all the best mate!