|
Team |
Driver #1 |
Driver #2 |
Chassis |
Sponsor |
Comments |
| American
Spirit Team Johansson |
Jimmy Vasser |
Ryan
Hunter-Reay |
Reynard |
|
Stefan
Johansson, the former F1 and CART driver, who ran
in the ALMS last season, used to own an Indy Lights
team. Two American drivers have been confirmed as
veteran former series champ Vasser and rookie
Hunter-Reay. |
| Andretti Green
Racing |
— |
— |
|
|
Michael Andretti
has bought a majority share of the team and is
taking it to the IRL along with drivers Dario
Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. They have lost KOOL
sponsorship in the process, which is quitting
motorsports. Now we understand why Barry Green sold
up. |
| Andretti Racing |
— |
|
|
|
Mario Andretti
had been in talks to run a third car out of the
Newman/Haas team, but now seems unlikely. Michael
says "It's all propaganda by Pook". |
| Arciero Racing? |
|
|
|
|
The Arciero
family has a long history in CART. Could they be
back? Al Arciero was busy in the paddock at
Fontana, but no word since. |
| Arden
International Motorsport? |
Tomas Enge?
Townsend Bell? |
|
|
|
This F3000 team
may compete in the two European rounds. They
currently campaign Bell in F3000. |
| BC Motorsports |
— |
|
|
|
Dana Brewer
failed to get this team off the ground last year.
We never believed the rumors that he might make it
this season. |
| Blair Racing |
— |
|
|
|
No return to
CART seems likely - after a year in the IRL, which
saw Alex Barron win one race for them, champweb.net
reports they have closed down. |
| Brand
Motorsports? |
Gary Paffett? |
Nicolas
Minassian? |
|
|
This British
Formula 3000 team has the crazy notion that the
European Champ Car rounds are a stepping stone to
the IRL in 2004. But maybe this gives a clue about
some of the stuff Chris Pook has been up to in
Europe - trying to add extra cars for just the
three yet-to-be-announced races? |
| Conquest
Racing |
Mario
Haberfeld |
|
Reynard |
Mi-Jack |
Team owner Eric
Bachelart, a former CART driver, is switching from
the IRL, having failed to secure Honda engines
there. The cars are Reynards from Player's and Team
Green. Will they run a second car in partnership
with Emerson Fittipaldi? See below. |
| Dale Coyne
Racing |
Joel
Camathias
|
Roberto
Gonzalez |
Lola |
|
Back for 2003,
running two young rookies. Joel Camathias ran in
five Formula 3000 races last season and hails from
Switzerland; Dale promises to announce some Swiss
sponsors in due course. Roberto Gonzalez is the
Mexican driver who came close to joining Walker
Racing. |
| Dick Simon
Racing |
— |
|
|
|
Robin Miller
reports that Dick Simon, who last raced in CART in
1995, is considering a return. He has the cash
after selling his marina property and was seen
talking to Chris Pook at Fontana. No word since. |
| Fernández
Racing |
Adrián
Fernández |
|
Lola |
Tecate
Quaker State
Telmex
Alpine? |
The team's
Mexican connections will keep them tied to CART,
but running Roger Yasukawa in IndyCar means only a
single Champ Car this season. Luis Diaz, who hoped
to be in a second car has re-signed with Atlantic
team Dorricott Racing. |
|
Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing |
Tiago
Monteiro |
|
Reynard |
|
Emerson
Fittipaldi Has teamed up with businessman James
Dingman to run a car for Portuguese driver Tiago
Monteiro. The cars will be prepared at Conquest
Racing's shop in Indianapolis. |
| Forsythe
Championship Racing? |
Alex Yoong? |
|
Reynard? |
Kuala Lumpur?
BSA Alloy Wheels? |
Gerry Forsythe's
second team, which last ran Bryan Herta for a
handful of races in 2001, could be resurrected with
Malaysian F1 refugee Alex Yoong as driver. However,
signs are that Yoong's deal has evaporated. With
enough cars signed up, maybe Forsythe no longer
needs another team to protect his investment in
CART? |
| Herdez
Competition |
Mario
Dominguez |
Roberto
Moreno |
Lola |
Herdez |
Mario Dominguez
will stay with Herdez. The team has added a second
car for Roberto Moreno, providing some much needed
experience. |
| Horizon
Motorsports |
— |
|
|
|
Russ Cameron, an
associate of Bruce McCaw and former PWR team
manager, was rumored to have purchased the assets
of the now defunct PWR team. However, we know now
PK Racing has done that and Russ will be team
manager there. |
| Hylton
Motorsports |
— |
|
|
|
With Keith
Hylton's U.S. Print company filing for bankruptcy,
it now seems unlikely that his Toyota Atlantic team
will make the rumored step up to Champ Cars next
season. |
| Indy Regency
Racing |
— |
|
|
|
Rumors suggest
they're ready to quit the escalating costs of the
IRL for a switch to Champ Cars. No recent news. |
| JAG Racing? |
Andre Lotterer |
|
|
|
Teamed with Dale
Coyne to run Lotterer at Mexico City as a way for
this German operation to evaluate a full season in
CART. While the team will not be ready for the
season opener, they hope to be on the grid at
Monterrey or Long Beach. Latest rumors link them
with Team Rahal, running the car from their shop in
Ohio. |
| Jensen
MotorSport |
— |
|
|
|
After originally
reporting that Eric Jensen has purchased two Lolas,
Champweb (a Web site that still cannot get the
links at the top of its home page right) now tells
us his plans have been postponed for a year. Eric
runs the Jensen MotorSport Toyota Atlantic team,
which has expressed its Champ Car aspirations. |
| Michael Shank
Racing |
— |
|
|
|
Seventh Gear
reports this Toyota Atlantic team is investigating
the step up to Champ Cars, but it looks like it
will not be this year. |
| Mo Nunn Racing |
— |
|
|
|
We had been
expecting Honda to drag them to the IRL, but it now
appears that Toyota has scooped them up, with a
deal to run Tora Takagi in a second car.
Despite Pioneer (USA) offering some sponsorship,
the budget will not be available for Champ Cars
this season. |
| Newman/Haas |
Bruno
Junqueira |
Sebastien
Bourdais |
Lola |
PacifiCare
Lilly |
Bruno Junqueira
replaces 2002 champion Cristiano da Matta, who is
off to Toyota's F1 team, and is joined by 2002
F3000 champion Sebastien Bourdais.
It still remains to be seen what price Carl Haas
extracted from Toyota to let Cristiano go. One
possibility is a car and engine for Bruno in the
Indy 500. |
| ORECA |
— |
|
|
|
French sports
car and former F3000 team with a US base at Road
Atlanta considered a 2003 CART campaign, but this
has not materialized. |
| Patrick
Racing |
Oriol Servia
|
Bryan Herta?
Laurent Redon? |
Lola |
Visteon |
Oriol has been
confirmed as the driver of the first car for 2003,
with Visteon returning as sponsor. The team will
switch to the Lola chassis and has also recruited
Steve Challis from Team Green as Chief Engineer.
Lower costs may help Patrick, a mainstay of CART
for many years, return to two cars. Bryan Herta is
tipped as top contender for the second seat, but we
spotted him looking for work on the pit road at the
IRL's Test In The West. |
|
Player's/Forsythe Racing |
Patrick
Carpentier |
Paul Tracy |
Lola |
Player's
Molson? |
As a Canadian
team, they will stick to CART for the three street
races north of the border.
Due to changes in Canadian law, this is the last
year tobacco company Players can be the sponsor.
They have added Paul Tracy to help them go out in
style, but the law won't let them run three cars.
So Alexandre Tagliani will be farmed out to another
team.
Tracy loved Team Green's move from Reynard chassis
to Lola. That issue has been resolved by Player's
buying Target Chip Ganassi Racing's entire stock of
Lolas. |
| PK Racing |
Patrick
Lemarié |
|
Lola |
JDS Uniphase? |
Jacques
Villeneuve's manager and BAR F1 team founder Craig
Pollock has teamed up with Kevin Kalkhoven, the
retired CEO of fiber-optic giant JDS Uniphase, to
start a new one car operation. They have bought the
assets of the old PacWest team and will run from
their former shop in Indianapolis under the control
of former PWR team manager Russ Cameron.
BAR test driver Patrick Lemarié,
who is managed by Pollock, has been selected as
driver. |
| Protostar |
— |
|
|
|
With Cadillac
withdrawing from the ALMS at the end of the season,
the team that ran its cars eyed CART as an
alternative. Founded by former Reynard designer
Nigel Stroud, renowned race manager Jeff Hazell and
former driver Wayne Taylor, the team seemed to have
excellent credentials. However, we now hear
Protostar has abandoned its plans and has all but
disbanded. |
| Racing
Engineering |
— |
|
|
|
This Telefonica
Formula Nissan team has decided against a switch to
Champ Cars for 2003. |
| Rocketsports |
Alexandre
Tagliani |
|
Lola |
Johnson
Controls |
Paul
Gentilozzi's Trans-Am team is headed for CART. Tag
has finally been announced as the driver. |
| Sigma Autosport |
— |
|
|
|
Went bankrupt
and their equipment has reportedly been sold. |
| Southerncross
Motorsports |
— |
|
|
|
This Toyota
Atlantics team is rumored to be interested in
moving up to Champ Cars. No recent news, so we
guess it was just "interest". |
| Target Chip
Ganassi Racing |
— |
— |
|
|
The team has
announced it will be running Scott Dixon and Tomas
Scheckter with Toyota engines in the IRL next year. |
| Team Malik |
— |
|
|
|
Nigerian prince
Malik ado Ibrahim, a co-owner of the troubled
Arrows F1 team, was present at Fontana. Any plans
he had to start a CART team or buy into one have
not materialized. |
| Team Menard |
— |
|
|
|
John Menard has
been spotted at several recent CART events, but
only because he runs Rhonda Trammell in Barber
Dodge. |
| Team Morello |
— |
|
|
|
Former Sigma
manager Paul Cherry linked to a potential new team.
He's British, so he might favor a driver like
Johnny Herbert. However, Johnny has signed up for
another year in ALMS with Champion Audi and
Bentley. |
| Team Penske |
— |
— |
|
|
Team Penske left
the FedEx Championship Series at the end of 2001 in
an attempt to dominate the IRL ovals-only series. |
| Team PRG |
— |
|
|
|
Andreas Leberle,
former owner of this team before helping to run
Arciero Blair Racing in 2001, says he intends to be
back, running one or two German drivers. He was at
Mexico City with DTM/Porsche Cup team owner Andreas
Grajewski in tow, but no word since. |
| Team Rahal |
Michel
Jourdain Jr. |
|
Lola |
Gigante |
As a former CART
CEO (albeit in interim capacity) you would expect
him to be totally committed to CART, but
sponsorship is hard to come by. Jourdain will be
back with Gigante sponsorship, but Jimmy Vasser
will go elsewhere. |
| Tyler Racing |
— |
|
|
|
Former Hall
Racing chief mechanic Gerald Tyler hoped to run
Barber/Dodge champion A. J. Allmendinger, but we
now know he will be racing for RuSPORT in Toyota
Atlantic. |
| Walker Racing |
Rodolfo Lavín |
Darren
Manning |
Reynard |
Corona |
The team had
announced Roberto Gonzalez as it's first driver,
but we got wind that this had fallen through when
all mention of him disappeared from the CART Web
site. Now British driver Darren Manning and Mexican
Rodolfo Lavín have been confirmed.
Derrick Walker acquired the US rights to the
Reynard chassis, when the UK parent went bust, and
is currently attempting to find additional
investors. It looks like G-Force's plan to buy the
Reynard chassis rights from Walker has faltered,
maybe because the IRL wouldn't allow it. |
