Sunday, February 8, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Brumos Racing wins Rolex 24 at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AP) - Juan Pablo Montoya said he felt like he had brought a knife to a gunfight.
Montoya and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammates went into the 47th Rolex 24 going for an unprecedented fourth straight victory for their car owner, but it was David Donohue and the long-suffering Brumos Porsche team that came out on top.
Donohue was at the wheel of the winning car in the last hour Sunday, chasing down and passing NASCAR star Montoya just 41 minutes from the finish, then holding the former IndyCar and Formula One driver off by the closest margin in race history.
The victory came on the 40th anniversary of a victory by Donohue's late father at Daytona International Speedway.
It was the biggest win of his career for Donohue, who started from the pole in the team's Porsche Riley on Saturday afternoon. He combined with former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law to win.
"We ran hard the whole time" said Donohue, son of Indy 500 winner Mark Donohue, who died in 1975 after a crash during a Formula One test. The son was just 8 years old at the time.
"It's a good story line but, to be perfectly honest, he's been gone for quite some time and our guys have done the hard work and putting in the effort to win this race," Donohue added. "I'm certainly really very proud of my father and his accomplishments and what he's done, and just coincidentally we happened to nail it on the 40th anniversary of his win.
"But I feel more of an attachment to the effort my guys have put in and Brumos. ... That's where my heart is, to be honest."
Four Daytona Prototypes, including the third-place sister Brumos Porsche - co-driven by six-time Daytona winner Hurley Haywood, J.C. France, son of NASCAR board member Jim France, Terry Borcheller and Joao Barbosa - finished on the lead lap in an event that had only once before had two cars on the lead lap.
The Ganassi drivers insisted that the Porsches had a big advantage on power, particularly on the portion of the 3.56-mile road circuit that encompasses about three-fourths of the 2 1/2-mile NASCAR oval.
"I said before the race that if the Porsches don't have any problems they're going to beat us," said Montoya, who had combined with teammates Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to win his first two Rolex 24s. "Every stint, apart from the last one, they drove away from us. We did what we could. I gave it 110 percent."
Donohue and his teammates pooh-poohed the supposed power advantage.
"There's no doubt we had good top end, but you really had to know how to use it," Donohue said, crediting former NASCAR driver and IROC test driver Dave Marcis with teaching him the art of passing on Daytona's high banks. "I've done a lot of testing here with the IROC guys.
"It's different cars, but the principles still apply. That's how I was able to do it, to be honest with you. I couldn't just sit there and drive by. You really had to plan it."
Law called the Ganassi team's gripes sour grapes, noting, "They crossed the line 50 feet behind us and it was a fight the whole way through."
The winners completed 735 laps, a total of 2,616.6 miles.
Montoya replaced teammate Pruett in the cockpit of the Ganassi Lexus Riley with about 2 1/2 hours left and appeared to be in control after he took the lead during the 23rd hour.
A record 25 full-course cautions kept things close and the final yellow of the grueling race came out for debris with just over one hour to go. All four of the lead-lap cars took the opportunity to make their final pit stops.
Donohue replaced Garcia in the driver's seat of the No. 58 car during the stop and somehow managed to stay right behind Montoya as they left the pits.
When the green flag waved with 53 minutes to go, Donohue went after the more experienced Montoya, nearly passing him several times over a period of several laps. They nearly bumped at least once before Donohue finally took advantage of slower GT class traffic to slip past the Lexus into the lead on lap 710.
"It was just a matter of getting into some traffic at some point," Montoya said. "I was actually surprised to stay with them. I drove my butt off to see if they would make a mistake. They made a couple of mistakes, but their car was so comfortable for them there was nothing we could do."
Montoya chased Donohue to the finish but wound up 0.167-seconds behind, a record, and only about four car lengths back. The fourth-place Ford Dallara of Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, Pedro Lamy and Brad Friselle was 7.589 seconds off the pace and in sight of the winners.
The previous closest 1-2 finish was 30.879 seconds in 2000 when a Dodge Viper held off a Chevrolet Corvette.
The second Ganassi entry, co-driven by IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti — the fourth member of last year's winning team — and Alex Lloyd, had problems in the early morning hours Sunday and wound up fifth, four laps behind the winners.
Roger Penske, who owned the car in which Mark Donohue won the 1969 race, was back at Daytona and racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with a new Porsche Riley after winning the last two championships in the rival American Le Mans Series. The trio of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe led several times in the early going, but fell to sixth and finished 18 laps off the pace after having to replace a broken rear end Sunday morning.
Jimmie Johnson, the three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion whose team finished second here a year ago, had some bad luck early in the Pontiac Riley he shares with former CART champion Jimmy Vasser, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. Johnson stopped Saturday night to have a broken tail light replaced and wound up having the gearbox replaced after he broke the transmission trying to get the car in gear. The team wound up seventh, 21 laps behind.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Are things looking up for A1GP?
(from a1.gpgrid.com 1-25-2009)
A1GP's future looks a lot rossier with an announcement expected of a wealthy investor piling some of his millions into the troubled series.
Debate about the sport's longevity has been circulating since one of it's founding investors, Sheik Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum of the Dubai royal family walked away from A1GP in 2006.
That intensified when RAB Capital, which paid the sheik US$200 million for an 80 percent stake in A1GP, was virtually brought to it's knees by the current economic crisis. Matters were not helped by the cost of the new Ferrari engines in all the cars. Ferrari's parent Fiat sued late last year to impound the new cars as A1GP owed it $2 million.
This weekend's round in Taupo is the first since Malaysia in November and some speculated it might be the last. Forumla 1, the World Rally Championships and Moto GP are feeling the crunch. Some say A1GP has survived this long only through the energy and creativity of chairman Tony Teixeira, who owns almost half the teams, and cheif executive Pete da Silva.
But Team New Zealand owner Colin Giltrap said a white knight was about to be revealed to save the World Cup of Motorsport.
"If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have been downbeat [about a1GP's future]," Giltrap said. "They were vert tight for money three to four weeks ago.
"It had a little bit of a hiccup because RAB Capital got caught like a lot of international merchant banks and they had to withdraw the funding to A1 but there is definitely a new funder coming in.
"I think there will be a big announcement next month of a large capital injection from another shareholder. It's being finalised at the moment. The new shareholder is a multi, multi-millionaire from the Far East who probably has access to more money [than the sheik]."
Da Silva was a little more circumspect about a new deal but said they were in talks with a number of potential shareholders.
"A1GP is not in jeopardy," Da Silva told the Herald on Sunday. "We have a few people who are very, very interested in the series.
"We have been very cautious. I don't want to take just anyone's money, even in this climate. I want to make sure whoever comes on board is not just adding financial value but falls in line with our strategic intent.
"There are at least three groups looking at A1GP in a serious way. I believe we could see [an announcement] in the next eight weeks. But in these markets nothing is sure until it is signed off."
Assuming investors are found, it will be a relief to the 22 teams involved from countries from India to Ireland and Canada and China.
The concept of country racing country appeals to many, especially given it comes down largely to driver skill and a team's slickness in the pits rather than the team with the biggest bank balance.
It costs about $7 million a season to run a team, which pales in comparison to the almost $1 billion spent by F1 teams annually.
Interestingly, Formula 1 has adopted a number of changes, like control tyres and control engines and one manufacturer supplying the engines and have even talked about introducing medals for drivers who reach the podium, bringing it closer to A1GP.
Although costs are drastically smaller than F1, da Silva has said they lost US$240 million in the first season. Now into it's fourth season, A1 is still not making money.
"I have a business plan that sees us go into profitability in year five," da Silva said. "A lot of people tend to compare us to more established series like Formula 1 or Moto GP. Both are in their old age and celebrating 60 years of existence. We are only four years old.
"Our strategy from day one was affordability. I run 22 cars for less than the cheapest team runs two cars in Formula 1. Our costs are much lower but our revenues are much lower. We are a young series."
Although Taupo loses money for A1GP, most tracks are now profitable, including the likes of Mexico, Portugal and England.
A1GP's future looks a lot rossier with an announcement expected of a wealthy investor piling some of his millions into the troubled series.
Debate about the sport's longevity has been circulating since one of it's founding investors, Sheik Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum of the Dubai royal family walked away from A1GP in 2006.
That intensified when RAB Capital, which paid the sheik US$200 million for an 80 percent stake in A1GP, was virtually brought to it's knees by the current economic crisis. Matters were not helped by the cost of the new Ferrari engines in all the cars. Ferrari's parent Fiat sued late last year to impound the new cars as A1GP owed it $2 million.
This weekend's round in Taupo is the first since Malaysia in November and some speculated it might be the last. Forumla 1, the World Rally Championships and Moto GP are feeling the crunch. Some say A1GP has survived this long only through the energy and creativity of chairman Tony Teixeira, who owns almost half the teams, and cheif executive Pete da Silva.
But Team New Zealand owner Colin Giltrap said a white knight was about to be revealed to save the World Cup of Motorsport.
"If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have been downbeat [about a1GP's future]," Giltrap said. "They were vert tight for money three to four weeks ago.
"It had a little bit of a hiccup because RAB Capital got caught like a lot of international merchant banks and they had to withdraw the funding to A1 but there is definitely a new funder coming in.
"I think there will be a big announcement next month of a large capital injection from another shareholder. It's being finalised at the moment. The new shareholder is a multi, multi-millionaire from the Far East who probably has access to more money [than the sheik]."
Da Silva was a little more circumspect about a new deal but said they were in talks with a number of potential shareholders.
"A1GP is not in jeopardy," Da Silva told the Herald on Sunday. "We have a few people who are very, very interested in the series.
"We have been very cautious. I don't want to take just anyone's money, even in this climate. I want to make sure whoever comes on board is not just adding financial value but falls in line with our strategic intent.
"There are at least three groups looking at A1GP in a serious way. I believe we could see [an announcement] in the next eight weeks. But in these markets nothing is sure until it is signed off."
Assuming investors are found, it will be a relief to the 22 teams involved from countries from India to Ireland and Canada and China.
The concept of country racing country appeals to many, especially given it comes down largely to driver skill and a team's slickness in the pits rather than the team with the biggest bank balance.
It costs about $7 million a season to run a team, which pales in comparison to the almost $1 billion spent by F1 teams annually.
Interestingly, Formula 1 has adopted a number of changes, like control tyres and control engines and one manufacturer supplying the engines and have even talked about introducing medals for drivers who reach the podium, bringing it closer to A1GP.
Although costs are drastically smaller than F1, da Silva has said they lost US$240 million in the first season. Now into it's fourth season, A1 is still not making money.
"I have a business plan that sees us go into profitability in year five," da Silva said. "A lot of people tend to compare us to more established series like Formula 1 or Moto GP. Both are in their old age and celebrating 60 years of existence. We are only four years old.
"Our strategy from day one was affordability. I run 22 cars for less than the cheapest team runs two cars in Formula 1. Our costs are much lower but our revenues are much lower. We are a young series."
Although Taupo loses money for A1GP, most tracks are now profitable, including the likes of Mexico, Portugal and England.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
IndyCar magazine goes bye-bye
(posted on 1-31-2008 after learning that the IndyCar magazine has ceased publication due to lack of interest)
We regret to inform you that IndyCar Series magazine will cease publication with immediate effect. Unfortunately, the last print issue was the 2008 Season Review and the last digital-only issue was the Mid-Winter 2008 Special, published December 2008.
Haymarket Worldwide would like to thank you for being a loyal subscriber and supporting the magazine.
For a limited time, you can still enjoy all the IndyCar Series free digital back-issues available on the Digital Archive page of www.indycarmag.com .
As an IndyCar Series fan, we want to introduce you to RACER, our monthly print magazine packed with the same top quality stories and photography you've come to expect from IndyCar Series. With RACER, you'll still get the inside line on all your favorite IndyCar Series drivers and teams, plus the latest news and views from Formula 1, ALMS, NASCAR and much more. Simply visit www.racer.com to find out more information, or to subscribe.
And for the latest news, results and multi-media content from the IndyCar Series, visit www.indycar.com , the official website of the IndyCar Series.
TravelGal
About time, I wouldn't let that thing touch my butt.
cartcanuck
Awwwwe. Too bad for the gomers. I guess they'll have to unstick the pages of their old issues if they want to see pictures of Danica and Sara in their nomex.
Sleeping Dog
They had a magazine?? Surprised it lasted as long as it did. But wait, they'll blame the bad economy instead of the fact that no one bought it, read it or advertised in it.
TheStranger
No economy is bad enough to convince the world that the EARL crapwagon junk formula is worth watching, or reading about.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POOR WRITERS AND PRINTERS AND AD SALESMEN WHO WILL NOW BE OUT OF THEIR $7.50 AN HOUR JOBS? THEY NEED MONEY TOOO!
TheMapman
That's what happens when you market a magazine to people who can't read.
PhillipT631
For laughs I went to the EARL website to see if they had any story on the mag going AWOL. No mention however they still have a link for the rag. Went to the link and nothing but trying to sell subscriptions. Went to the subsciption link to subscribe and it comes up "INVALID PUBLICATION"
westhilthril
Damn!!! What a good week. Looks good on them. They can spew all the drivel they want to try and sugarcoat things. However, anyone with half a brain can see right through it. I guess that eliminates all 5 earl fans. Oh well!!
cartcanuck
Anyone looked at ToothlessForum to see how they are taking all this good news?
Hayden Fan
I fear that my brains would turn to mush if I looked there. Studies have shown that with each visit has the equivalent on the body as smoking 3.444 ounces of crack.
We regret to inform you that IndyCar Series magazine will cease publication with immediate effect. Unfortunately, the last print issue was the 2008 Season Review and the last digital-only issue was the Mid-Winter 2008 Special, published December 2008.
Haymarket Worldwide would like to thank you for being a loyal subscriber and supporting the magazine.
For a limited time, you can still enjoy all the IndyCar Series free digital back-issues available on the Digital Archive page of www.indycarmag.com .
As an IndyCar Series fan, we want to introduce you to RACER, our monthly print magazine packed with the same top quality stories and photography you've come to expect from IndyCar Series. With RACER, you'll still get the inside line on all your favorite IndyCar Series drivers and teams, plus the latest news and views from Formula 1, ALMS, NASCAR and much more. Simply visit www.racer.com to find out more information, or to subscribe.
And for the latest news, results and multi-media content from the IndyCar Series, visit www.indycar.com , the official website of the IndyCar Series.
TravelGal
About time, I wouldn't let that thing touch my butt.
cartcanuck
Awwwwe. Too bad for the gomers. I guess they'll have to unstick the pages of their old issues if they want to see pictures of Danica and Sara in their nomex.
Sleeping Dog
They had a magazine?? Surprised it lasted as long as it did. But wait, they'll blame the bad economy instead of the fact that no one bought it, read it or advertised in it.
TheStranger
No economy is bad enough to convince the world that the EARL crapwagon junk formula is worth watching, or reading about.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POOR WRITERS AND PRINTERS AND AD SALESMEN WHO WILL NOW BE OUT OF THEIR $7.50 AN HOUR JOBS? THEY NEED MONEY TOOO!
TheMapman
That's what happens when you market a magazine to people who can't read.
PhillipT631
For laughs I went to the EARL website to see if they had any story on the mag going AWOL. No mention however they still have a link for the rag. Went to the link and nothing but trying to sell subscriptions. Went to the subsciption link to subscribe and it comes up "INVALID PUBLICATION"
westhilthril
Damn!!! What a good week. Looks good on them. They can spew all the drivel they want to try and sugarcoat things. However, anyone with half a brain can see right through it. I guess that eliminates all 5 earl fans. Oh well!!
cartcanuck
Anyone looked at ToothlessForum to see how they are taking all this good news?
Hayden Fan
I fear that my brains would turn to mush if I looked there. Studies have shown that with each visit has the equivalent on the body as smoking 3.444 ounces of crack.
KV could cut back to single car
(by Matt Beer on Autosport.com 2-1-2009)
KV Racing have become the latest IndyCar Series team to admit that they might have to scale back their programme in 2009 due to a lack of sponsorship, with co-owner Jimmy Vasser saying that they are currently set to run just one car this year.
Vasser said that unless funding was found soon, the recently-signed Mario Moraes would be their sole representative in the 2009 championship. The team ran Will Power (who is now deputising for Helio Castroneves at Penske) and Oriol Servia last year.
"The bottom line is that we had to lay off 18 people and as of right now we're just running one car in the Indy Racing League," Vasser told speedtv.com.
"It was a very difficult thing to do because we have a good family atmosphere built up here but were past the date on our budget to carry the compliment of people for a two-car team. Those are just the facts."
The IRL provided additional assistance for teams moving across from Champ Car in 2008, but now that support has expired, KV need to find more funding.
"Last year we had no engine lease so it's $2 million more we've got to come up with and we've got less money," Vasser said. "I've never seen anything like this economy in my lifetime and it's tough but we're fighting and we're doing everything we can."
He added that KV would still be capable of running two cars if they secured more sponsorship, despite the redundancies.
"We're still trying to run two cars, we've still 23-25 people and we've kept the infrastructure so we'll be able to fire it right back up," said Vasser. "We're optimistic we can reverse the process and we've got Brendon McManus working flat out to try and find sponsors. These are hard times but that doesn't mean we're lying down and I can promise you we won't compromise the professionalism of this team."
KV are among several IndyCar teams presently struggling to finance their 2009 programmes.
Newman/Haas/Lanigan could cut back to one car for Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Racing recently revealed that they cannot currently afford to run a full season, and Conquest and Dale Coyne Racing have yet to announce any drivers for 2009 - although the latter squad did recruit highly-rated ex-Ganassi engineer Bill Pappas this week.
Front-runners Andretti Green (four cars), Penske and Ganassi (two cars each) are certain to return, while the new 3G team, Panther Racing, AJ Foyt, Dreyer & Reinbold, HVM and Vision Racing have all committed to one car programmes, with additional entries from the latter three teams still possible.
KV Racing have become the latest IndyCar Series team to admit that they might have to scale back their programme in 2009 due to a lack of sponsorship, with co-owner Jimmy Vasser saying that they are currently set to run just one car this year.
Vasser said that unless funding was found soon, the recently-signed Mario Moraes would be their sole representative in the 2009 championship. The team ran Will Power (who is now deputising for Helio Castroneves at Penske) and Oriol Servia last year.
"The bottom line is that we had to lay off 18 people and as of right now we're just running one car in the Indy Racing League," Vasser told speedtv.com.
"It was a very difficult thing to do because we have a good family atmosphere built up here but were past the date on our budget to carry the compliment of people for a two-car team. Those are just the facts."
The IRL provided additional assistance for teams moving across from Champ Car in 2008, but now that support has expired, KV need to find more funding.
"Last year we had no engine lease so it's $2 million more we've got to come up with and we've got less money," Vasser said. "I've never seen anything like this economy in my lifetime and it's tough but we're fighting and we're doing everything we can."
He added that KV would still be capable of running two cars if they secured more sponsorship, despite the redundancies.
"We're still trying to run two cars, we've still 23-25 people and we've kept the infrastructure so we'll be able to fire it right back up," said Vasser. "We're optimistic we can reverse the process and we've got Brendon McManus working flat out to try and find sponsors. These are hard times but that doesn't mean we're lying down and I can promise you we won't compromise the professionalism of this team."
KV are among several IndyCar teams presently struggling to finance their 2009 programmes.
Newman/Haas/Lanigan could cut back to one car for Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Racing recently revealed that they cannot currently afford to run a full season, and Conquest and Dale Coyne Racing have yet to announce any drivers for 2009 - although the latter squad did recruit highly-rated ex-Ganassi engineer Bill Pappas this week.
Front-runners Andretti Green (four cars), Penske and Ganassi (two cars each) are certain to return, while the new 3G team, Panther Racing, AJ Foyt, Dreyer & Reinbold, HVM and Vision Racing have all committed to one car programmes, with additional entries from the latter three teams still possible.
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