Jourdain on Teamate AJ

[racinthestreets]

Michel Jourdain on his new teammate AJ Allmendinger:

"In the end I think for both of us, it's a big dream come true. I think A.J. is much better prepared than I was when I was a rookie and I'm sure he'll do very, very well. I'm sure he'll do things like when Alex Zanardi, Juan Montoya or Greg Moore came in as rookies. I can't wait for him to impress everybody."

That is from ESPN's article on Jourdain joing RuSport. Obviously MJ agrees that AJ is going to be a podium contender early. It will be quite an accomplishment if true because it is a rookie team as well.
Cheers to RuSport

[jjspierx]

Yep, AJ is gonna come out and rock some peoples socks off.

[BootsOntheSide]

The addition of Michel to the team makes that more likely. He still has a fair bit to learn, but his Atlantics campaign was superb. I can't see him doing as well as Montoya or Zanardi, but a top 10 series finish seems like a reasonable target.

[Continental Op]

I have no idea how good AJ´s gonna do but this kinds of quotes is why I care about Champ Cars and don´t think there are many reasons left to get engaged about F1 anymore. Michel sound proud over his new teammate! I believe these guys seriously have much more fun than F1 guys. You coild see it Juans Pablos eyes at the pressconference at Sepang, it´s all * anyway. Champ Cars as we know it before 2002 and hopefully from 2004 and and on is racing heaven.

[racinthestreets]

I will venture to presume that AJ will finish in the top 10 at Long Beach!

[Omega99]

I think the fact that Rusport has no experience in Champ Cars is the only thing that might hold him back! Best of luck to him!

[jjspierx]

It sure didn't hold him back last year in Atlantics. Although yes, obviously, there are a lot more factors in Champcar and the cars are lot more complex and require a lot more learning to understand the setups and such. We'll see soon enough.

[Tailwind]

I was very impressed with AJ last year and I agree that we should see great things from him in the coming years. The above statement increases my respect for Jourdain. I believe his statement was genuine and sincere. He didn't state some politically correct sponsor friendly canned statement. He said what he feels. Good luck to both of them. I hope they both have outstanding seasons.

[AROUNDTHEFUR]

Any news on Tecate sponsoring Jourdain's car???

[Dov]

http://www.rusport.com/

[racinthestreets]

Thanks Dov, but all I see on that site is what has been there for the last 60 days. Coming April 2004. Am I missing something. Does it say anything about the Tecate sponsorship?:confused:

[Dov]

Hi racinthestreets,
No it doesn't mention anything about the Tecate sponsorship. It was the first time I had looked at their website since RuSport signed Jourdain Jr. and it looked pretty cool, so I posted it!

[Amar7605]

I doubt that Tecate is going to sponsor Michel so soon after AF left the series. Maybe at most they will be associate sponsors in some races (like Long Beach) but nothing more. Perhaps they will sponsor his car in the Mexican races or the races overseas. Who knows?

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally posted by Amar7605
I doubt that Tecate is going to sponsor Michel so soon after AF left the series.

Could be an extent of hedging their bets - if they find that ChampCars has lost its marketing appeal in Mexico, and IRL is the way to go, they will want to be able to do that without having burnt any bridges. In any case, the uncertainty isn't ideal for RuSport, who have little ponsorship for AJ's car, and only Giagnte for Michel's.

[racinthestreets]

It may not be too far a reach for Tecate to find a young "unknown" Mexican driver to sponsor completely. They have really been supportive of CCWS and I expect that will continue.