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.

[Tailwind]

The part the puzzles me is Salo not running for PK. I would like to see Vasser run for a team that can put a good car under him. I can't wait for this season to get rolling.

[f1manoz]

Good to see so many positive rumours nowadays.

[Snrub]

Glad to hear Vasser as one of the first confirmed for 2004. After his revitalization in 2003 he deserves it.

[BootsOntheSide]

Presumably the PK choice came down to Vasser V Salo (Gonzales' car coming down to sponsorship specific to him) and they decided Jimmy's experience and impressive 2003 form made him the better choice.

The news about McDonalds is good too - a big name sponsorship deal would be a real help for promotion.

Firman's under discussion elsewhere - personally I think he'd be a good addition but there are better guys looking for rides.

[Hazza]

Boots - are we reffering to Villenueve or Verstappen?

[BootsOntheSide]

I was thinking more of Robbie Kerr, Mario Haberfeld, Jon Fogarty, Felipe Giaffone and the likes. No one in CART can afford to run Jacques, and Jos has had his day.

[macdaddy]

From Dave Despain and WindTunnel...
Mika Salo has said that the salary offered him by PK Racing wasn't enough to even pay his insurance.

[racinthestreets]

The question is were they offering a share of the purse?:confused:

[Snrub]

When did Despain say that? What were they talking about in general? (whatever it was it sounds interesting)

[Liz]

It was in a segment about 2 minutes long, right before a very long interview with Kenny Brack who looks terrible.

There was also a brief telephone call with Paul Tracy in which Despain asked him about going to NA$CAR (he said maybe in five years when he was too old for OWRS) and, incredibly, whether there he had any message for TG. With admirable restraint, PT said that he did not.

But I think everyone knew what that message probably would have been.

[Mags]

Originally posted by Liz
It was in a segment about 2 minutes long, right before a very long interview with Kenny Brack who looks terrible.

There was also a brief telephone call with Paul Tracy in which Despain asked him about going to NA$CAR (he said maybe in five years when he was too old for OWRS) and, incredibly, whether there he had any message for TG. With admirable restraint, PT said that he did not.

But I think everyone knew what that message probably would have been.

Love Him.

And, I can inded now confirm, Jimmy is going to PK Racing.

[BootsOntheSide]

Great news for Jimmy and PK. It appears to make RHR look pretty certain for the second RocketSports car. Havign 3 Americans in the field is good - I like to see an international field, but CART does need drivers from its core teritories, the IRL still has many more US drivers, and Canada and Mexico are well-represented already - but it'd be nice to have more.

[SurfaceUnits]

Hopefully Valiante and Walker can make a go of it as well.

[Snrub]

I think more importantly than simply having 3 Americans is that they are three Americans who are excellent drivers (assuming Jimmy keeps the 2003 roll going) and it looks like they'll be on decent teams.