Hildebrand was officially confirmed by Panther today.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chamoo
Printable View
Hildebrand was officially confirmed by Panther today.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chamoo
Bold is set-
Andretti Autosport
Marco
Danica
RHR
No word on who will fund RHR, but the Snapple/Dr. Pepper rumors are not correct. They were tied into the 7/11, and the hope is they might still might be primary for some races.
Penske Racing/Team Penske Racing
Power
HCN
Briscoe
Target Chip Ganassi
Dixon
Dario
Ganassi/Prudhomme Racing
Rahal
Kimbal
All set, but we shall see what the actual team name is. Graham will be living in Indy during most of the season, and this is a welcome addition.
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Vitor
KVRT
Sato
Viso
Ride buyer ~3
KV Renta Team-Mutoh trying to get money togerther, Viso seems to have some funding as well. Viso's funding is coming along, and might trump Mutoh. Mutoh could be here, or DR or gone. Some peg TK here, but the team has not paid a driver since they had Power.
Panther
JR Hildebrand
MDS was one of the first to place JR here. They were looking for an American and it looks like they have a good one. I have never met him, but look forward to having him in the series.
de Ferran Dragon Racing
TBD/TK
Money is an issue- TK would be in, save for his current salary demands, which he deserves. TK wants $3 million, but may have to take a pay cut. The music is still playing, but not many rides remain.
HVM
TBD
Money a big issue here. While tehy would love to have SDS back, they look set to run a ride buyer.
Conquest
TBD
TBD
Money is also an issue here. Look for two paying drivers.
FAZZT
Tagliani
Tung
Newman Hass
Hinch
TBD/Servia/TK
Hinch should be set, and the team is looking at securing the funding for the second car. Servia would be the first choice, but if they hit teh funding jackpot, TK could come to play
Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
Wilson
TBD1
TBD 2
Wilson set, and several are looking at teaming with him next year. Weldon has made noise, but for all the wrong reasons, and would need some funding. Conway could be back, if the funding is available.
Sarah Fisher Racing
Carpenter
Money brought in from TG.
Dale Coyne Racing
Ride buyer 1
Ride buyer 2/?
Viso or Mutoh could end up here as well. Not sure about Milka, but the biggest check wins!
Driver Roundup-
TK-
Wants $3 million or so for a top flight ride. He trying to get funding from Brazil that he can take to a top team, but those rides are full so De Ferran would be the best pick, as would Newman Haas.
Weldon-
It might be hard for anyone to bite on Weldon, since he under performed and is suing his former team. I think he will be at Indy for someone, maybe even Foyt, but I think he will not have a seat for the season. He has dropped his asking price, but may need to secure funding.
SDS-
If TK does not end up at Deferran, and SDS is out at HVM, look for Simona to drive full or part time, for Deferran or KVRT Rent a Ride operation.
Viso-
Has funding, and should return to the KVRT Rent a Ride team, but could take his funding to DR as well. Might also find a way back to HVM.
Speedy Dan Clarke-
Working with Walker to secure funding. It would be great to have DW back int eh series.
The press conference is going on, its confirmed, Graham and Charlie Kimbal at at a Ganassi B-Team with Service Central and Novo Nordisk. Kimball will drive the 83 and Graham will be in the 38, which is probably where the rumors of Red Bull got started since Chip just snagged their traditional numbers.
Happy for the announcement in many levels (including 2 more places back you know who will be most of the time :D ). But what's going on with number selections these says? Neither looks right in an Indycar and they both look slow before even getting on track! Its a perceptual think for me...sorry.Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
This has been the best Silly Season in a decade, new qualified drivers who want to build a career in Indy Cars, new sponsors including some Fortune 500 companies.
de Ferran/Dragon Racing
2 Tony Kannan? Alex Lloyd? Simon Pagenaud HP (They're cheaper than TK and more accomplished than Rafa)
Team Penske
3 Helio Castroneves Shell (Indy and several other races)/AAA of SoCal (Long Beach and Texas)
6 Ryan Brisco Izod
12 Will Power – Verizon Wireless
Panther Racing
4 J.R Hildebrand National Guard (R)
KV Lotus Racing
5- Takuma Sato Lotus
8- E.J. Viso? Lotus/PDVSA?
15 Oriol Servia?/ Hideki Mutoh?/Paul Tracy?
32 Fairuz Fauzy?
Andretti Autosport
7 Danica Patrick Go Daddy
11 (I'm hearing there will be a fourth car, but not sure who)
26 Marco Andretti Venom Energy Drink
37 Ryan Hunter Reay
Target Chip Ganassi
9 Scott Dixon – Target
10 Dario Franchitti – Target
38 Graham Rahal – Service Central brands
83 Charlie Kimball- Novo Nordisk (R)
AJFE
14 Vitor Meria ABC Construction
Walker Racing
55?- Dan Clarke/Johnathan Summerton
Dale Coyne
Seriously who knows, but this seems like a likely landing place for someone like Sebastian Saavedra or possibly Jonathan Summerton. Also Alex Lloyd might be back.
18 ???
19 ???
Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
22 Justin Wilson Z-Line designs
24 Conway?/Tracy?/anyone with a check?
Conquest Racing
34 Bertrand Bagguette
36 Tomas Sheckter?
FAZZT Race Team
33 Ho Ping Tung (R)
77 Alex Tagliani B&W Speakers/Hot Wheels of Canada
HVM Racing
78 Simona De Silvestro
Newman Haas Racing
They're waiting on sponsorship deals to be signed, they could be back with a vengeance in 2011 or just survive. They're moving forward like the deals they have in the work will be done and they apparently have some new associates signed already. Also I'm just guessing at the numbers because the cars weren't numbered at the Seabring test.
02 Oriol Servia/Tony Kannan?
06 James Hinchcliff (R)
Part Time
Sarah Fisher Raciing
67 Ed Carpenter Dollar General
de Ferran Dragon Racing
21 Davy Hamilton HP (Indy, Texas one or two others)
Bryan Herta Autosport
Wants to do Indy and as many as five other races
Free Agents
Oriol Servia
Robert Doornbos
Alex Lloyd
Hideki Mutoh
Dan Wheldon
Fairuz Fauzy
Sebastian Saavedra
Simon Pagenaud (He's not trying as hard as the other but I've heard his name linked to Walker, de Ferran Dragon and Coyne.)
Jonathan Summerton
I'm curious how this satellite team for Chip will be compared to his main team. Do you think the cars will be as competitive and running up front, or because it's a satellite team the cars won't be of that top tier quality?
During the press conference Chip said they were adapting a Hendrick Model where they have two teams in one shop and then two teams in another nearby shop. Both Novo Nordisk and Service Central are big multi-year deals so they need to be competitive off the bat. I would expect Graham to be stronger than Kimball for a while, but I have to think the expectations for both drivers is that they would win a race in 2011.
Good news from Ganassi, countering the drop in car count that we seem to be having so far in the off-season :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by TURN3
I know what you mean - bring back the old numbering system where the cars were numbered according to where they finished the previous season!
And its a rubbish theory, but in my mind the lower the number the quicker the car. I can see why NHL went with 02 and 06 rather than say 62 and 66
Asides from Andretti Autosport, I don't think we have seen a drop off in car counts yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikki Katz
We haven't heard from the 2nd and 3rd tier teams yet. KVRT is potentially going to be at 4 cars, AA could still be at 4 cars according to rumors, FAZZT is looking at 2 cars.
Teams like HVM, DeFerran Dragon, Conquest and DCR will come through with atleast 1 if not 2 cars.