Acura/HPD's future plans

[mattcat]

Originally Posted by supermario21

Franck is super quick and Marco/Tony (maybe even Danica) will make a super team.

Please please please, a message to anyone with any influence over the situation:

Please keep Danica Patrick and her travelling circus out of sports car racing. She is a sideshow everywhere she goes and a mediocre driver at best. She backed in to a win in the IRL (under very very questionable circumstances) and now everyone thinks that something has changed about her driving ability. Well, it hasn't and likely never will. Please do not let sports car racing turn into a Danica-Mania Three-Ring, even if just for one event. This I implore.

Thank You,
Matt

[The359]

Originally Posted by mattcat

Please please please, a message to anyone with any influence over the situation:

Please keep Danica Patrick and her travelling circus out of sports car racing. She is a sideshow everywhere she goes and a mediocre driver at best. She backed in to a win in the IRL (under very very questionable circumstances) and now everyone thinks that something has changed about her driving ability. Well, it hasn't and likely never will. Please do not let sports car racing turn into a Danica-Mania Three-Ring, even if just for one event. This I implore.

Thank You,
Matt

She finished 4th in GTS in a Prodrive Ferrari partnered with Jerome Policand in the 2003 Grand Prix of Atlanta. Hardly mediocre or a sideshow.

[The359]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

No, she didn't have any problems driving it... just not quickly.

The other Prodrive car had Kox and Enge, so I'm sure most drivers would be considered slow. How much faster was Policand in the same car?

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by mattcat

Please please please, a message to anyone with any influence over the situation:

Please keep Danica Patrick and her travelling circus out of sports car racing. She is a sideshow everywhere she goes and a mediocre driver at best. She backed in to a win in the IRL (under very very questionable circumstances) and now everyone thinks that something has changed about her driving ability. Well, it hasn't and likely never will. Please do not let sports car racing turn into a Danica-Mania Three-Ring, even if just for one event. This I implore.

Thank You,
Matt

Please bring on the media that Danica garners!! The ALMS could use the exposure.
Hmm, IRL '05' 12th and Rookie of The Year beating out both Enge and Briscoe. '06' 9th, '07' 7th and currently 7th, I would say that is better than mediocre, or is 60% to 70% of the field worse than mediocre? As to the win, it was achieved by having the right strategy in place at the right time, period. Questionable circumstances my behind. You think others let her win?

And we have no comparative data on how she will/would stack up in a prototype. The biggest problem I foresee with this is her height at 5'2" she is the shortest of the AGR drivers and at 6' Montagny is the tallest. Which is the problem they had with her in the car earlier.



L.P.

[Stefvh]

Is'nt Mutoh even shortest ?

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Stefvh

Is'nt Mutoh even shortest ?

No. Danica 5'2", T.Kanaan 5'5", Marco 5'6", Mutoh 5'8", Matos 5'9" and Montagny 6'


L.P.

[CarolK]

Originally Posted by The359

She finished 4th in GTS in a Prodrive Ferrari partnered with Jerome Policand in the 2003 Grand Prix of Atlanta. Hardly mediocre or a sideshow.

There were ONLY FIVE GTS entries in the class!!! the fifth place only completed 92 laps.

I agree with Mattcat's post. (If she's such a "hot shot" driver, why did she qualify last for AGR in 14th place for Richmond? She's been continually surpassed by Mutoh recently.)

[cmk]

I don't think AGR, as successful as they are, are stupid enough to give up a seat in their Acura to Danica. She works for them in the IRL because of the exposure she generates but that would not work in the same way for sportscar racing, so there is not so favourable a trade-off.

[Matt]

Didn't Danica drive at Sebring last year?

PS - I'll be at the race.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by CarolK

There were ONLY FIVE GTS entries in the class!!! the fifth place only completed 92 laps.

I agree with Mattcat's post. (If she's such a "hot shot" driver, why did she qualify last for AGR in 14th place for Richmond? She's been continually surpassed by Mutoh recently.)

And was 10th out of 35 entries!!!

Mutoh recently (very and barely) has, but he has also done better than Marco and Tony. So what?


L.P.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by cmk

I don't think AGR, as successful as they are, are stupid enough to give up a seat in their Acura to Danica. She works for them in the IRL because of the exposure she generates but that would not work in the same way for sportscar racing, so there is not so favourable a trade-off.

I have to disagree. As a third driver in the car I think it would be great for the ALMS and may go a ways with HPD. link Honda and AGR realize that she is a good media draw and could/should be utilized as such.


L.P.

[The359]

Originally Posted by CarolK

There were ONLY FIVE GTS entries in the class!!! the fifth place only completed 92 laps.

And was beaten by Peter Kox, Tomas Enge, Kelly Collins, Oliver Gavin, Ron Fellows, and Johnny O'Connell, all people who have a lot more experience in GTS/GT1 cars, so I'd hardly call hanging on for fourth to be "mediocre".

I agree with Mattcat's post. (If she's such a "hot shot" driver, why did she qualify last for AGR in 14th place for Richmond? She's been continually surpassed by Mutoh recently.)

Danica is also ahead of Marco in the points standings at the moment, but I'm sure you have no objection to him being in the Acura. And I'm pretty sure race finishes and championship points are a more important judgement of her driving than a poor qualifying in a single race.

[The359]

Originally Posted by cmk

I don't think AGR, as successful as they are, are stupid enough to give up a seat in their Acura to Danica. She works for them in the IRL because of the exposure she generates but that would not work in the same way for sportscar racing, so there is not so favourable a trade-off.

I'd imagine Andretti Green knows more about whether or not it'd be "stupid", considering they're the ones who tested her.

She's not there for exposure, she's there because she's consistent and earns points for the team.

[Nick6]

Originally Posted by The359

She finished 4th in GTS in a Prodrive Ferrari partnered with Jerome Policand in the 2003 Grand Prix of Atlanta. Hardly mediocre or a sideshow.

And who came in 5th? The Carsport viper?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by mattcat

Please please please, a message to anyone with any influence over the situation:

Please keep Danica Patrick and her travelling circus out of sports car racing. She is a sideshow everywhere she goes and a mediocre driver at best. She backed in to a win in the IRL (under very very questionable circumstances) and now everyone thinks that something has changed about her driving ability. Well, it hasn't and likely never will. Please do not let sports car racing turn into a Danica-Mania Three-Ring, even if just for one event. This I implore.

Thank You,
Matt

[CarolK]

Originally Posted by Nick6

And who came in 5th? The Carsport viper?

5th in the GTS Class was the Olive Garden 550 that only made 92 laps; the Viper didnt' start.

As far as finishing 10th - that's no big deal when you look at the list and it's obvious that others had problems (LMP675 and LMP900) based on the number of completed laps. A 10th place finish is just as one would expect based on the classes running. It would be interesting to see just how many laps Patrick did during the race; Jérôme Policand had/has a far superior driving record and is still driving sportscars (I suspect he's the one who kept the Ferrari in the points. I remember reading on a Ferrari forum that she had problems handling the car.)

Sure she's ahead of Marco, only perhaps because he's done some pretty stupid bone-head moves.

It's just a shame that the current drivers got dumped. . . . Herta has been part of the squad since 2003, initially racing for their IRL IndyCar Series operation before switching to the ALMS when he lost his IndyCar drive to Danica Patrick in 2007.
Team owner Michael Andretti paid tribute to the ousted duo, but said the drastic change had been necessary.
"Making a change in the middle of the season isn't something you enjoy, and I think it's even tougher in this case because we're talking about Bryan and Christian," said Andretti.
"Bryan has done everything we've ever asked him to do since he joined Andretti Green in 2003, including helping us win the 12 Hours of Sebring in our first American Le Mans Series start last year.

Sounds like AGR is desperate to win in P2. I'm not an AGR fan and I hope that Marco doesn't do something stupid at Lime Rock.

[dxk1]

Danica Patrick is a good solid driver. She's not great, but she's adequate and the attention she brings might get a few more eyes on ALMS and bring in some fans that ordinarily would not be exposed to the series. What's wrong with that? Teamed up with a first rate driver like Montagny, I would guess they would finish strongly in the points but not win. So what, the exposure would be good for the series. I would have to say, the positives outweigh the negatives.

DK

[TWK]

Originally Posted by joeb

I remember reading somewhere, maybe Murphy, that one of the current Acura teams won't be around next year in the ALMS. I thought it might be AGR, but now...... Also, at the beginning of the season there was an Acura show on Speed, and Brian Herta was talking about how nice it will be to have the same co-driver for the whole season. I guess he was right, he did only have one co-driver (+1 at Sebring), but he prolly didn't expect his season to be over so soon!

Murphy said "The way things are now...." That implied he was told there was a dispute over something in April and May. Resolved, perhaps? Does this story rule out AGR? Not really. Did the disagreement have anything directly to do with winning races or with drivers? Not likely. Is there an on-going issue? There's been no further talk, if that means anything.

[cds_uk]

I am a huge Franck fan, i cant tell you how happy i am that he has got this chance, however i would not be at all surprised if he gets some single seater testing with AGR later on in the year with a view to moving over to indycars next year, i say this as i am pretty sure he still sees single seaters as unfinished business. Having said that i would still expect him to be up at the sharp end straight away in ALMS regardless of team mate.

[Dead-Eye]

Didn't Patrick share a car with McNish and Lammers at the Daytona 24h 2006? Would be interesting to know how their lap times compared.

[The Badger]

You must be joking ..... compared to Lammers & NcNish !!!!

[Dead-Eye]

As I said, it would be interesting

[dj4monie]

I mixed feelings about it generally.

Christian I always felt wasn't has good as advertised, another very good driver, but not a great one. The proof in the pudding was he didn't win as often as one would think with a first class team like Newman-Haas.

And his career has slowed dramatically after he left the series.

He wasn't strong where you would suggest with Petty Enterprises but then again the team was struggling then and to a large degree still struggling, so you can't put the blame on him qualifying and running at the back at places like Watkins Glen or Sears Point.

He put in some solid times in the AGR Acura at Sebring, botched it at St Pete and if I remember Brian didn't drive the car at St Pete.

Brian on the other hand, I like alot as a person and as a driver who was never able to take full advantage of his time at Rahal-Lettermen, though he was dialed in to Laguna Seca kinda like Kyle Petty was nearly unbeatable at Rockingham for a few years.

He had a few bright moments driving the "We The People" A1GP Lola, but never won and I think that wasn't his problem, the organization behind the team was basically jacked up until recently and Summerton broke through in China.

He had spent time in the ALMS before but hasn't been able to keep in the loop of the series like say David Brabham has for example.

He is a soild driver however and I think Christian and Brian will both find rides again in the series. They are vets both know the circuits we visit and a generally good people in the paddock, especially Brian.

There are more LMP teams coming online and not all of them have driver's in place either, so maybe they will both land on their feet in the ALMS.

[broadrun96]

Could we move the AGR driver lineups and potential drivers to either a seperate thread or to the ALMS 2008 thread?

[broadrun96]

Is it one of the teams won't be around at all or still in P2? Could Murphy have been referring to Fernandez, Highcroft and now de Ferran staying in P2 for a customer program and AGR moving up to run the P1 car, if the program comes to fruition? Could be AGR premiering the car at Sebring and the team with most cash/sponsors becoming the second P1 team midseason or so?