CC News & Rumours

[Dov]

From Crashnet..... http://www.crash.net/uk/en/news_view...id=3&nid=85647

WEDNESDAY 18TH FEBRUARY 2004

Silly season is almost over for the Champ Car World Series as drivers and teams finally realize whether or not they'll be around for the upcoming season. We'll try to delve into the rumour mill to mix things up and who knows, some of this might be true. Then again…


PK Racing lands Vasser

In a Crash.net exclusive, we have received word to look for an announcement soon that American Jimmy Vasser will be driving for Pollock/Kalkhoven Racing for the 2004 season. Vasser is slated to be working with engineer Steve Challis and a lot of the previous Patrick Racing Team personnel and equipment.


Gonzalez to partner Vasser at PK Racing

Roberto Gonzalez is also expected to be named as a driver with Pollock/Kalkhoven Racing in the near future. We are told that Gonzalez has a solid sponsor package lined up (Nextel Mexico) and the Mexican recently tested with the team at Sebring.

“I think that I can contribute a lot to this team,” Gonzalez said to Crash.net during the recent Sebring test. “I'm hoping that I can make this work out.”


Firman looks towards USA racing series

After the Jordan Grand Prix Team announced that Giorgio Pantano would be the teams second driver this season, Ralph Firman was left without a ride in Formula One. Now he might be heading to the United States next to look for a new one.

"I am concentrating my efforts on a new category of racing and while my first choice would be to race in a highly competitive single seater series such as ChampCar or IRL in America I am also fascinated to race in DTM because of the sophistication of the cars," confirmed Firman recently via a statement on his website. “I've also enjoyed working with Ford, a really impressive company, and if I move to ChampCar I look forward to linking with them again."


Golden arches to return to Champ Car

Gerald Forsythe ran a car in the 1999 CART series for driver Tony Kanaan with McDonalds Restaurants “Drive Thru” as the cars primary sponsor. Speculation has the restaurant giant returning to not only sponsor a team in the series but possibly as one of the series presenting sponsors.



Salo says he's close

According to reports out of Finland, Mika Salo is getting close to finalizing a deal that will see him driving for a different Champ Car team in 2004. Finnish TV station YLE reportedly heard from the driver and the rumour is he told them that he'll have an announcement declaring his 2004 plans soon.