Rahal's Driving Line-Up?

[BootsOntheSide]

Now that Bobby has confirmed his decision to concentrate solely on the IRL, we can start to ponder his driving line up. We already know that:

• He will be running 3 cars for Motegi and Indy, with Rice and Yasukawa in 2 of them
• He will be running 2 cars thereafter
• Brack will be in one, if and when he recovers
• Rice will be in one, at least until Brack recovers
• Bobby has (informally) committed to continuing to run Rice, out of his own pocket if neccessary, if he's in the top 5 when Brack is back

There are thus 2 main possibilities. One is that he will keep Rice alongside Brack, the other is that he won't. Which drivers are in contention for the ride uop until then?

• Pat Carpentier: Appears to be the favourite - he's out of a ride, good on ovals, experienced on road courses (which could be handy in 2005), has his salary paid, and its possible that OWRS released him so as to keep Jourdain
• Oriol Servia: Has similar strengths to Pat, without the financial incentives
• Roger Yasukawa: Has his 'foot in the door', but didn't earn massive respect last season, and Bobby plans to announce his driver before Motegi, so he won't have had a chance to show his pace
• Felipe Giaffone: Experienced, out of a ride, and respected
• Buddy Lazier: Having 2 Americans in the team might appeal, and if 2 Buddies can't get on, who can? Thing is, he didn't look too good in mid-90s CART, and has fallen back against the incoming teams of recent years
• Jacques Lazier: Younger than his brother, but hasn't showed as much pace, and is believed to be trying to set up his own team

Who do you think?

[racer69]

If a sponsor could be found, Rahal should sign Vitor Meira.

[sgw2]

Rahal is holding the spot for Jourdain. Don't be surprised if Michel winds up in the seat afterall at Indy, if not Motegi.

Despite Jourdain and Gigante saying they plan to stay in Champ Car, the fact remains that they have no ride lined up and OWRS appears unlikely to reach its minimum car count requirements. 23 days before teams unload at Long Beach and the count is 11 plus 2 empty field fillers at Coyne (crews for Coyne will be provided by IPS teams rented by OWRS).

I vote Michel Jourdain. Otherwise Rahal will put a safe driver like Richie Hearn in the car, or a Honda provided driver like Shinji Nakano for Motegi and Indy.

[GP Racer]

Wow, OWRS losing Jourdain now, would be another huge blow to that series, and probably the final one! But you could very well be right. Fernandez, Rahal, and Jourdain don't have any allegiance to OWRS, it was CART that was able to hold them there. There really is no confidence that the 3 amigo's will be able to pull this thing off, especially without a serious financial investment, which they seem unable or unwilling to produce.

I'm going with Giaffone, for all the reasons that boots said. Buddy Lazier is my second choice, also very expierienced, and I'd like to keep half the field American. I don't want this series to make the same mistake that CART did, by going with all foreign drivers.

[Tenoch]

I choose other and its Michel Jourdain because its beign said that he is going to end up at Rusport he aint gonna deal with that nonsense why should he.