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So there's this rumor that Sebastien Bourdais stayed in Florida after the 24 hour to test at Seabring with Dale Coyne. Could be that SeaBass and Coyne are looking to do some or all of a season together or, another team is paying DCR to do a test with Bourdais for them for any of a number of reasons.
Also Racer has confirmed that Mike Conway bought a ride at Andretti Autosport
Conquest is at Sebring testing Vernay
Conway to Andretti for 2011 - according to his Twitter
Yeah just saw on facebook that Seabass tested with DCR. Cant see it happening personally, although i dont think many people saw Conway going to AA either.Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
Not "if", apparently he IS:
http://www.racer.com/sebastien-bourd...rticle/195469/
Gary
It is funny how a guy who said he didn't want to do the IRL a year or so ago is now looking to come back. I guess making a living and keeping a career alive does matter. You go where you can get a check. Somehow, he has found his way back, and good for Coyne for giving him a test. How they make it a competitive ride is up to Dale and whatever money Seabass can bring, but it proves that people are not seeing the IRL as no option. It is now an option. Now when it starts to attract people who don't see it as a last chance, that is when we know we have seen the series turn the corner. It isn't there yet....
psst it's not been the IRL since December... j/k
A much welcomed addition to the Indycar talent pool. Not quite sure he can be as successful as Justin Wilson was at DCR. Last I remember Seabass struggled more than Wilson does when the setup wasn't dialed in.
Realistically though this should probably only be a part time deal. LeMans and Indy 500 practice and qualifying times conflict iirc. Is it possible the writing is on the wall regarding the Peugeot's LMP funding or his seat there? Regardless it's a smart move for both he and the Coyne team.
Then PT would be the only one on the outside looking in.
The article Gary posted said he would only be doing road courses. Someone named Martin Plowman will be doing the ovals. All in all, I'd rather have PT in there, but I guess he couldn't come up with the funds.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
No, the way I read it Martin Plowman will drive the BSA car full-time. Bourdais will do all the roadcourses in a second car. I won't be surprised if Bourdais is sponsored by Citgo with their favourite driver doing the ovals.....Quote:
Originally Posted by DBell
Wow, great news! I'd love to see Bourdais back, even if it's only at Coyne. He's completley wasted in AutoGP or whatever it is.
Also good to see a 4th Andretti car, though are D&R still planning to field two?
Slightly off topic, but also great to see da Matta return to racing full time, even if it's not in a series I'll watch.
Is she even capable of making the 105% on an oval at this point??Quote:
Originally Posted by Lousada
So where is Shorty racing this year. Please tell me it is not that truck series in South America.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikki Katz
Gary
Da Matta will be racing in the ALMS this year for Paul Gentilozzi's Jaguar team in the GT class. he and Bruno Junqueria will share one of the two cars; i guess PJ Jones and Paul (?) wll be teamates in the 2nd car.Quote:
Originally Posted by garyshell
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...tudded-lineup/
My mistake. Didn't read it carefully enough. According to Speed today, no one has been signed yet. Bourdais, Plowman and Alex Loyd are all in the running at this point. Seabass would only be able to do the road courses due to Peugeot commitment. No mention of Duno, though Dale said everything was a possibility at this point. I thought she was off to Arca this year. Hopefully we've seen the last of her in Indycar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lousada
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...r-road-courses
I wasn't planning on doing an update until I got to Barber, but so much has happened the last couple of days, here's how the field is shaping up. It looks like a minimum 23 full time cars with a max of 26-27. There could be 30 cars or more at Texas and Vegas, so I'm hoping that Vegas is a 400, 500 mile affair.
de Ferran/Dragon Racing
2 Tony Kannan HP
21 Davy Hamilton HP (Indy, Texas, Loudon, Vegas)
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 Katherine Legge?/Mario Moreas?/Dan Wheldon? Lotus
32 James Rossiter Lotus (Could be Rossiter on roads and Wheldon on ovals)
Andretti Autosport
7 Danica Patrick Go Daddy
11 Mike Conway
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
Dale Coyne
18 Sebasten Bourdais?/Milka Duno?/Katherine Legge?
19 Alex Lloyd/Martin Powman BSA
Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
22 Justin Wilson Z-Line designs
24 Ana Beatrix
Conquest Racing
34 Bertrand Baguette
36 Paul Tracy Motegi Wheels/other sponsors (He's signed a letter of intent with Eric for a full season)
FAZZT Race Team
77 Alex Tagliani B&W Speakers/Hot Wheels of Canada
88 Ho Ping Tung (R) His duties as a test driver for Lotus Renault won’t preclude him from running a full or part time season
HVM Racing
78 Simona De Silvestro Entergy/Nuclear power
Newman Haas Racing
Things are still in flux now but it looks like they’ll have at least one full time car.
02 Oriol Servia
06 James Hinchcliff (R)
Sarah Fisher Raciing
67 Ed Carpenter Dollar General (St. Petersburg, Indy, Milwaukee, Texas, Iowa, Mid-Ohio, NHIS, Baltimore, Kentucky, Las Vegas)
Bryan Herta Autosport
Wants to do Indy and as many as five other races
Free Agents
Oriol Servia
Alex Lloyd
Hideki Mutoh
Dan Wheldon
J.K. Vernay
Martin “Plowy” Plowman
Sebastian Saavedra
Jonathan Summerton
Ana Beatrix
Jonathan Edwards
Sebastien Bourdais (Don’t be surprised if he ends up at a team other than Coyne. Yes they tested together but there are some other teams out there looking to put together a part time drive he could still end up at)
Say what you will, but Milka was well within 105% at every oval in 2010 (except Iowa where she was in practice, but they sat out qualifying). She often out qualified many drivers who never get blasted for being slow. As for road courses, well that is a different matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by nigelred5
Sorry for the delay, but I have been stuck in Daytona. Called my first 24 hour race, with good results! Congrats to Chip and the boys, who were spot on the entire race. I hope to make it back next year....it was a good time!
Bold is set-
Andretti Autosport
Marco
Danica
RHR
Conway
Soucek's money never materialized. Conway's check did.
Penske Racing/Team Penske Racing
Power
HCN
Briscoe
Target Chip Ganassi
Dixon
Dario
Ganassi II
Rahal
Kimbal
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Vitor
KVRT
$ato
Vi$o
The joke that is the KV Renta Team-Team continues....
Panther
JR Hildebrand
de Ferran Dragon Racing
TK
HVM
SDS
Conquest
Tracy/TBD
Eric looking to land a big fish, for the entire season. 50-50 on landing PT.
FAZZT
Tagliani
Still working on funding for Tung.
Newman Haas
Hinch
Servia
Still securing funding, but looks set to start the season with this good line up. Things are not coming together as quickly as hoped, but Hinch is a good pilot!!!
D&R
Wilson
TBD/Wheldon
Beatriz (part time)
Weldon wants to pay for oval races, and Conway has enough for the road courses, so they could spilt time in one car. Others with money are looking to share the third car. Beatriz for Brazil, and a few other races...
Sarah Fisher Racing
Carpenter-part time
Money brought in from TG. Might rent the car out for road courses.
Dale Coyne Racing
Ride buyer 1
Ride buyer 2/part time?
Seabass? Seabass? I would say it depends on funding, and who is engineering the car. They lost more than Wilson last year.....
It has been reported that Milka's license was pulled. rh
I have to tell you EE, it brought a healthy laugh to see $ato and Vi$o. Good one!
Indy Racing Revolution and AR1 are reporting Viso and Sato confirmed at KV Racing.
http://indyracingrevolution.com/sato...-for-2011.html
Edit: Looks like it is on the KV Racing site, too:
http://kvracingtechnology.homestead.com/
Gary
Bold is set-
Andretti Autosport
Marco
Danica
RHR
Conway
Penske Racing/Team Penske Racing
Power
HCN
Briscoe
Target Chip Ganassi
Dixon
Dario
Ganassi II
Rahal
Kimbal
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Vitor
KVRT
$ato
Vi$o
Panther
JR Hildebrand
de Ferran Dragon Racing
TK
HVM
SDS
TBD
The team is looking to take on a paying driver for the second car. Bags among those in the hunt.FAZZT
TaglianiSarah Fisher Racing
Carpenter-part time
Conquest
TBD/Tracy
The team faces a struggle to make the grid. Depends on who can bring a check. PT's funding not as solid as thought.
Newman Haas
Hinch
Servia
Funding and a crew for one car...working the midnight oil to get more funding!
D&R
Wilson
TBD/Wheldon/Bags/Moraes
Beatriz (part time)
Weldon wants to pay for oval races, Others with money are looking to share the third car. Beatriz for Brazil, and a few other races...
Dale Coyne Racing
SeaBass (part time for road and street races)/Wheldon (ovals)
TBD car 2
Well, they tested Seabass and he was quick and came away impressed. Dale is looking to pay him, and bring in a solid engineer. Lloyd still figures as a part time/full time. Wheldon could take the SB car for ovals, unless gets something done with DR.
Other teams players-
Rahal
Doornbos/TBDIndy only? I get nervous when a dutch driver posts his actions on his website, ala Jos the Bos, or Door the knob. I think they will be at Indy, but with a solid driver in place.
Team 3G
Tanto
Bly
Team picks up Snapple/Dr. Pepper money and hires Joe Tanto and Jimmy Bly for the season. They will run a third cart for Stanton Barrett at Indy's Fastimes track on the north side...
-BAM Racing to Indy Car (with Foyt's team). Joey Hand could be in the mix as the driver.
-Wade Cunningham will run 4 races with SSM (Texas 2, Kentucky and Vegas).
-Townsend Bell likely to run Indy and Vegas for SSM.
-Jay Howard likely farmed out to a 2nd Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan car at Indy.
-Coyne still is trying to get Milka's money (come on, Dale).
Yeah, that's way, way premature. Most likely they're going to be a rent-a-owner of a second or third Foyt car at Indy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotty G.
BAMFoyt are doing the whole deal where the fans sponsor the car. That's basically declaring they won't answer the bell before they've even tried.
Glad to see the news about Cunningham/Bell at SSM, though. Wade's deserved this for a long time and Townsend Bell is one of my favorites. Not to mention the team is easy to support.
Its like I know something sometimes.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...s-mailbag-216/Quote:
Any chance this BAM Racing/Foyt partnership is going to happen? Will AJ run Joey Hand in the second car? ...
RM: I talked to A.J. about it and he says they'll try and put something together for Indianapolis with Beth Ann but didn't mention any particular driver.
Simone Pagenaud is looking a partial schedule this year and then a full time schedule next year. He's talked with a lot of teams but doesn't bring a lot, if any, money to the table. The two teams he's been rumored to be associated with is Conquest and Newman Haas.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...o-join-series/
I think the great thing about Chip and Roger going from four cars between them to seven is its really pressuring the rest of the field to respond. They can't just drop a pay driver in anymore and get enough tow money from the league in order to keep going. I think what's really pushing the smaller teams to go after guys like Simone, PT and Bourdais is the loss of the team money. Keith caught on last year and now has a fairly secure future for HVM, and it looks like Conquest, Newman Haas and DR&R are following that same model.
Here's the way I see the top 22 in points shaking out
Ganassi - 4
Andretti - 4
Penske - 3
KV-Lotus - 2
de Ferran Dragon - 1
DR&R - 2
FAZZT - 1
HVM - 1
Panther - 1
Newman Haas - 1
Those teams are probably all locks for the top 22 and that only leaves three spots for the Conquest, Foyt, Coyne, and a third plus possibly a fourth KV team, a potentially second NHR car. Add in part time entries from Sarah Fisher and Sam Schmidt taking up points and potentially squeezing people out of the Indy 500 or other races, and someone is going to get left out,The whole grid is under pressure to get better.
His name is Simon, without the extra e. Simone is a girls name in France.Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
I certainly follow you in this. That's why I think the rent-a-ride outfits of KV and the second D&R car will have serious problems next season. Especially if Conquest and Coyne produce serious 2-car efforts. Sato barely made the cut last year.Quote:
I think the great thing about Chip and Roger going from four cars between them to seven is its really pressuring the rest of the field to respond. They can't just drop a pay driver in anymore and get enough tow money from the league in order to keep going. I think what's really pushing the smaller teams to go after guys like Simone, PT and Bourdais is the loss of the team money. Keith caught on last year and now has a fairly secure future for HVM, and it looks like Conquest, Newman Haas and DR&R are following that same model.
Here's the way I see the top 22 in points shaking out
This is being written up as an anti-NASCAR bill but it would have pulled the National Guard off of the Panther car as well.
Quote:
Congress is expected to tighten its fiscal belt this year, but not at the expense of military logos on NASCAR race cars. A budget-cutting proposal by Minnesota Democrat Betty McCollum to end military NASCAR sponsorships crashed and burned Friday on the final lap of a House amendment process. It was voted down 281-148.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/...9cP3DieyckcUsI
Curt Cavin just reported that Tony Kanaan and de Ferran did not reach a deal after all.
http://blogs.indystar.com/racingexpe...ran-part-ways/
Gary
Just when everything seemed to be going in the right direction, it becomes apparent once more that the damage of the last 15 years cannot be undone overnight. Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy and Sam Hornish Jr. won ten IndyCar and Champ Car championship titles in the last decade and have 111 race wins combined. None of them has a full time ride for 2011.Quote:
Originally Posted by garyshell
The latest
Bold is set-*for now....but things can and have changed!
TK fits in just about any where......
Andretti Autosport (4)
Marco
Danica
RHR
Conway
Penske Racing/Team Penske Racing (3)
Power
HCN
Briscoe
TK?
Target Chip Ganassi (2)
Dixon
Dario
TK?Could there be a TK in the house?
Ganassi II (2)
Rahal
Kimbal
A.J. Foyt Enterprises (1)
Vitor
KVRT (2)
$ato
Vi$oThe smart money says sign TK, but then this owner is not that smart.
Panther (1)
JR Hildebrand
de Ferran Dragon Racing (0)
Done
HVM (1 or 2)
SDS
TBD
The team might have landed a second driver. Could be a part time deal. Could be big?FAZZT/SMR (1)
TaglianiSarah Fisher Racing (1)
Carpenter-part time
Conquest (1)
TBD/Tracy
The team faces a struggle to make the grid. Depends on who can bring a check. PT's funding not as solid as thought.
Newman Haas (1)
TK/Hinch/Servia
Trying like hell to get TK and funding for a second car. Still, only one crew.
D&R (2)
Wilson
Wheldon/TK (Oval/RC)?
Beatriz (part time)
Dale Coyne Racing (1 or 2)
SeaBass/Milka (RC/Ovals)
TBD/LloydWell, they are looking for a solid engineer to work on SB's car, and another to work with Milka. The one engineer sould switch between SB and the 2nd car. If TK does not land anywhere, he might come to play if SB takes a pass.
Team "Zed"There have been some rumblings of a new team/new entry possibly in conjunction with a current or former team, with some backing for a part time/full time car for a known driver. I am not sure if this is part of the Sam Schmidt/FAZZT or a new entity. The people in the know can not say, though it appears some deal was done, as such team is being assembled. Expect this to come out within a week or so. There is a chance this effort might be for another series....but the well known players are very hush, hush.
Team "$5 miilion is a lot"
Several entities are talking about a Vegas effort, as a stand alone effort or part of an existing team. Once the season gets underway, MDS could set up a new thread with rumors and potential drivers/team and combos. Much talk here!!!
My best guess, based on what I know (and don't) is that this is the addition to SSM/FAZZT racing team. If so, look for the team to run a second car at selected races before or after Indy. They are already set to run Tags, Howard, and Tinkerbell at Indy. They could be in the mix at Vegas with Hearn, or another driver as well.
I'm kind of getting tired of people knocking on the good people at KV Racing... last time I checked Penske's son had to close down his team and KV is looking at fielding three pretty quick cars. Yes all three of their drivers crashed a bit last year but Viso, Sato and even Moreas are deserving of rides in the in the series. Given that Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimbal both bought there rides this season I don't quiet get why people are banging on KV for doing what they have to do in order to survive.
I wonder how differently people will think about them a year from now if Sato and Viso both cash in on their potential and win a race or two this year.
1. Why? This team isn't even trying to compete. If they were, they wouldn't have these 3 slaps back in cars again in 2011.Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
2. A bit? All they did last year was crash. On big ovals. On street courses. On short ovals. On road courses. They were an embarrassment. All three of them.
3. Yea, right. These 3 all should go find another series to go play in. All 3 of them suck and none ever belonged in a Indy Car. Their resumes aren't exactly chalked full of race wins and accomplishments. They only got here because of the checks they wrote. That's it.
4. How many more years does KV get to "try and survive"? When they are in the same spot next year at this time, still without any sponsorship that they went out and got on their own, do we continue to say its "OK"?
5. The only way those two could win a race in this series is if Milka takes out the other 20 professional race drivers and those two are the only ones left on the track. And even then, they might crash into each other (either on the track or on pit lane) and not see the checkards.
They have no potential to do anything.
You make a reasonable point - but there is also plenty of room for the detractors to make their point.... Viso and Sato have speed but not much discipline... I still think Viso has potential - Sato I think has been at it long enough - he'll never be a complete package... As to Scotty's point -Realistically, all of the teams are just trying to survive and always have been... Even Chip and Roger are only going to race on their own dime for a year or two at the most...Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
I do not wish to give kudos to KV Racing - they need to step up their game - but right now they are just the easiest team to bust on.....
oh, and give me a break - Kevin and Jimmy are no dummies - KK might have been foolish enough to try to save ChampCar but he wasn't stupid enough to go down with the ship....
First, let me say there are GREAT people at KV Renta-Racing. I know them extremely well and most are equally frustrated. My pointed negative comments are directed squarely at the owner, Mr. KK, not the great team of engineers and crew. They even upgraded Sr. Management, but KK refuses to spend money on any true talent behind the wheel.Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
Comparing Jay Penske to KK is like comparing Cooper Manning to Steve Jobs. If Jay Penske had the resources of KK, he would have never let Will Power go! He would have gone out and signed Justin Wilson, Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan or another proven winner instead of waiting for the biggest check to clear before "signing" any drivers.
Two years ago, while we had a rain delay, I asked all the drivers to rate their peers. Sato (was not in the series yet), Moraes, and Viso did not crack the top ten, nor should they. I'm going to say it....they are hacks with checks! Yes, Moraes and Viso have had some good events, usually on ovals. Hell, Milka had at least one good oval race, so what does that prove. But to watch KK and his $$ ignore Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, Tony Kanaan, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Paul Tracy and others who have TALENT, is a disgrace.
I don't want to call you out on this, but I think if you found your way to a race and met up with some of the team members from KV, you would find out for yourself that this is the way they feel. They are all happy to have jobs, but very disapointed in the direction the owner has gone in NOT spending money on talented drivers. They would love to have talent behind the wheel to work with, and right now they do not have that.
As for Graham and Charlie "buying" rides, you are a bit off base. The money does not come from their own pockets but from corporate investors, who have found marketable and talented drivers to help promote their respective brands. Danny Sullivan did the same to get his start, and I dont know anyone who compared him to (name any Whittington brother) or other hacks who wrote their own checks back in the day. Likewise, Graham and Charlie are far different from Vi$o, $ato and Morae$.
People (including his own employees) are banging on KK (and rightfully so) because he has the resources to hire good, if not great drivers. Even Dale Coyne with less than 1/10th the wealth of KK, hired Wilson for one year, and is looking to hire SB for another.
If $ato and Vi$o win races, I will not feely any different. The fact is any real drivers would be winning in those cars becuase of the immense talent of the engineers and crew.
Does Vasser actually do anything on that team? He seems to be doing this to colllect a paycheck.
I'm not aware of anything significant coming from him other than his twitter fight with Tracy.
I know it's always easier to spend other people's money, but the way I hear it now both Wheldon and TK are in the running for seats at KV this year.
There's a couple of scenarios that might play out as far as KV is concerned. One, they drop down to a two-car team with Sato and Viso, two, they keep the full time third car with either TK or Whledon or Moreas in the seat, and the best case scenario being four cars, TK in the third car and the fourth car a split ride with Lotus' test driver James Rossiter on road courses and Dan Wheldon doing ovals. If Moreas leaves KV he'll probably end up at the second HVM car.
Yes, I would love to see them bring in some muilti-year sponsorship deals to go along with the Lotus money, but that's a hard thing to do right now.
Bold is set-*for now....but things can and have changed!
TK fits in just about any where......
Andretti Autosport (4)
Marco
Danica
RHR
Conway
Penske Racing/Team Penske Racing (3)
Power
HCN
Briscoe
Target Chip Ganassi (2)
Dixon
Dario
Ganassi II (2)
Rahal
Kimbal
A.J. Foyt Enterprises (1)
Vitor
KVRT (2)
$ato
Vi$oThe smart money says sign TK, but then this owner is not that smart.
Panther (1)
JR Hildebrand
HVM (1 or 2)
SDS
TBD
The team might have landed a second driver. Could be a part time deal. Could be big?FAZZT/SMR (1)
TaglianiSarah Fisher Racing (1)
Carpenter-part time
Conquest (1)
TBD/Tracy
The team faces a struggle to make the grid. Depends on who can bring a check. PT's funding not as solid as thought.
Newman Haas (1)
TK/Hinch/Servia
Trying like hell to get TK and funding for a second car. Still, only one crew.
D&R (2)
Wilson
Beatriz
Dale Coyne Racing (1 or 2)
TK/SeaBass/Milka (RC/Ovals)
TBD/LloydTK for the whole year?
de Ferran Dragon Racing (0)
Done
I will tell you right now if TK or Wheldon ends up at KV I'm going to need something to sedate me at Long Beach if I get close to Vasser. They apparently stabbed PT in the back while he supposedly had $2M to bring. Why go with TK or Wheldon when neither apparently has that? That is stupid business if this is actually being considered. I don't mean that in the light of PT being that much better but you certainly aren't losing anything. In the off-season, I had hoped TK & PT would end up together there but as pointed out in several of the last few posts, KV needs step up or step down. They have one of the best staffs in the biz and they are all going to waste...apparently unhappily.Quote:
Originally Posted by MDS
The team members are still buying parts, and still looking at being at the first race...
Seems there might have been a late secret deal, part of the Team "zed" with new engineer and crew. Deferran? Ganassi?
I can not get info, and I know the several of the team members very well. All are hush hush, but "contracts went out". Could be part time, full time, who knows.
But it appears there will be one more car for the start of the season....