| [menu_index.htm] |
|
CART |
||
|
CART
3/4-Season Report |
|
Autocourse CART Yearbook 1999-2000 List Price: Our Price: $24.47 You Save:$10.48 (30%)
|
|
Go to our forums to discuss this article |
Other's by Venkat |
|
|
Had CART interim President Bobby Rahal predicted back in February that this season would be the most exciting and thrilling on record, the response would have been 'cut the crap'. No one in their wildest imaginations would have dreamt about the fierce competition and the neck to neck championship battle we are in. The drivers championship is still wide-open. Team Rahal's Max Papis opened the season with his maiden win at Homestead and the charismatic driver was looking like a real title contender, however, as the season has progressed he has fallen apart and consistency still alludes this Italian. While Max Papis ended his winless drought, there were couple of other drivers who have the ability to win but haven't yet made it to the top. The Penske has been the dominant team in the FedEx series and when the entered this season they were one short of the century mark in terms of the number of races won. However, this season saw Roger Penske achieve this milestone in his long and arduous motor racing journey. Gil de Ferran powered his Honda Reynard to a dominant win at Nazareth that gave the Penske its 100th Champ Car win. His Brazilian compatriot, Helio Castroneves tasted his first victory at Detroit and unlike Papis he didn't stop there and won again at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca. Both the Penskes have been running extremely well at the road and street courses and the Penske Team seem to be real title contenders as there are still three more street/road circuits left in the season. If Michael Andretti is the veteran in the Series then Roberto Moreno is the veteran super-sub. Moreno has had brief stints in CART but the spirited drive with Newman/Haas last season led the Brazilian to a full time drive with the Patrick Racing team partnering another seasoned campaigner, Adrian Fernandez. Moreno grabbed this opportunity with both hands and consistently finished within the points and also he won at Cleveland. At that point Moreno was leading the championship, however, the second half of the championship saw Moreno relinquish his lead but still there is some potential left with the wily old fox. His Mexican counterpart won at Rio de Janeiro and along with Moreno has been a force to reckon with in the Champ Car series. Both the drivers are still in the fight for the Championship title. Though Andretti qualifies to be called a veteran, in the past his inconsistency has been the Achilles Heal for the American. However, his single Champ car title doesn't really show the talent this Newman/Haas driver possesses. Andretti has won at Toronto and Twin Ring Motegi and currently is a close second in the series with a host of drivers breathing down his neck. Still, he remains one of the favorites to win the title for this year's championship. However, the same cannot be said about his Brazilian teammate, Christian Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi has been jaded. Hence, mixed luck for the Newman/Haas team. For the last four years, the Champ Car series has been dominated by one single team, Target Chip Ganassi Racing. The Reynard Honda powered Ganassi cars had won the Championship driven by the likes of Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya. However, quite a few eyebrows were raised when Ganassi opted for the peculiar combination of Toyota and Lola for this season. Toyota were considered one of the back runners both in terms of power and technology. But that doesn't mean that Toyota couldn't be competitive. After signing with Ganassi there has been tremendous R&D work and they have managed to raise more than a few eyebrows. Current Champion, Juan Montoya struggles at present as he languishes way down the field in the points championship table with 10 DNFs. However Montoya is not at fault for not finishing since most of the time the retirement is due to a technical snag rather than a driver error. But the two stunning victories at Milwaukee and Michigan (plus the Indy 500 win) hasn't been parlayed elsewhere. The best race of this season undoubtedly was at Michigan where Montoya crossed the finish line a whisker from Andretti. As to his American teammate, Jimmy Vasser is off the pace and has no logical chance of winning the title. I feel Ganassi has made a big mistake in opting for a Toyota/Lola combination and the team is struggling with the other mid-runners, but otherwise has the potential and expertise to fight for the championship. Paul Tracy has launched a serious attack at grabbing the coveted title, winning three races this season. Tracy opened his run at the title by winning at Long Beach but then there was a sudden hiatus and many critics wrote off Tracy. However, he came back with a bang at Elkhart Lake, by winning the race after being plagued by mechanical troubles earlier, which saw him rejoin the race in 23rd position. Surely, this spirited drive has given the Canadian the necessary confidence and the sudden resurgence that has catapulted him to the second place in the standings, aided by another win at Vancouver last week. His teammate, Dario Franchitti is fighting hard to garner a couple of points. By the look of things Franchitti has no real chance of winning the title but there has been a late resurgence from the Scotsman as he finished second to his teammate at Vancouver. The PacWest team has had a cataclysmic run this season, owing to the problem of reliability of the Mercedes-Benz engine. Mark Blundell and Mauricio Gugelmin haven't featured in the top ten in the points table and languish down the field. Though Gugelmin has shown certain shades of brilliant drives, at least during qualifying, however, for the most part the team has been out of competitive running. Overall the situation at the team has drifted from bad to worse. The loss of Greg Moore came as a big blow not only to the Players' team but also to the entire racing fraternity. However, the Players' team has coped with the loss but no one could fill the vacuum created by the Canadian. The team has had a few decent runs. Patrick Carpentier had a mediocre season but the team has managed to see through the reliability problems. The Della Penna team started their one car operation with Norberto Fontana. But Fontana never came to terms with the car and Memo Gidley replaced him. This strategic move by John Della Penna lifted the morale of the team. Gidley has gelled with the team and has proved that he can be fast at times. Gidley has been a revelation this season and has finished four of the five races. The interesting fact is that Gidley has managed to finish in the points in all these four races. Mo Nunn racing with its Mercedes-Reynard combination steered by Tony Kanaan has failed to create any impact. This may be due to Kanaan's mid-season injury which kept him out for a couple of races and the lack of power and reliability of the Mercedes engine. Cal Wells is one of the respected team owners in the paddock. Wells broke up with the Arciero Racing Project Group and started his own team and this season and the team has become a force to reckon with. Cristiano da Matta pioneered the team's first victory at the one-mile oval in Chicago. In fact, Da Matta leads Montoya in the championship standings both powered by Toyota this in itself is a major benchmark for the team. Though one can argue that Cristiano da Matta drives a Reynard chassis compared to Montoya's Lola but this cannot take away the accolades which Da Matta has achieved since Ganassi has been dominating the CART championship for the past four years and Montoya is the current Champion. The future looks to be a bright one for PPI Motorsports. Walker Racing fielded a single car driven by Shinji Nakano, however getting to the finish, or lack thereof, has plagued the team Dale Coyne racing had a host of drivers this season however competitive racing is still lacking. The lack of testing and development has resulted in poor track performances. The team had Takuya Kurosawa, Gualter Salles and Alex Barron sharing a car and Ex-Minardi driver, Tarso Marques, drove the second car. Marques was the only Swift runner in the series. Though Marques had certain decent runs, ha and the team has lacked consistency. That leaves us with the back markers, Arciero Racing Project Group, another Mercedes runner. That says it all. This year has been a disastrous year for the Mercedes as they have been plagued by technical snags. However, the team fights hard and Luis Garcia Jr. is still an unknown quantity Most impressive among the rookie crop is Kenny Brack. However, it is not fair to term Brack a rookie. He has been around America for many years and raced in the rival IRL series and won the 1999 Indy 500. When he joined Team Rahal everyone thought he would run in the shadow of his teammate Max Papis . But instead it has been Brack has outshone Papis. Another rookie who has overshadowed his teammate is Alex Tagliani. Tagliani shouldered the expectations of Canadians since he came as the replacement for the late great, Greg Moore. To be fair enough, Tagliani has kept a cool head, barring a few `rookie mistakes' which is common, he has outclassed his veteran teammate, Patrick Carpentier. The Canadian came directly from the Toyota Atlantic series but has proved that he can handle the pressure of being a CART driver. The highlight of his brief CART career is the Pole position that he secured at Rio de Janeiro. Tagliani had his chance of winning races when he led at Rio de Janeiro and Elkhart Lake but due to a mistake at the former and a technical snag at the latter, Tagliani hasn't made it to the winner circle. However, he has been impressive in his first year. Another import from Europe is Oriol Servia. The Spaniard is the current Indy Lights Champion and this landed him a drive with the PPI Motorsports partnering Cristiano Da Matta. Servia has grabbed the drive with both the hands and surely has aided in the growth of the team along with Da Matta. Takuya Kurosawa entered the Championship with a drive with Dale Coyne Racing. He has had a mediocre debut but his outing with the team has been hindered by an injury. Still he hasn't driven the car in the second half of the season hence his real driving skills cannot be judged. He briefly led at Long Beach but the 37-year-old Japanese has arrived in CART a little late in his career. But who knows, maybe he can be a future Moreno. Though we have crossed the 3/4th mark of the season, still no one is able to predict the Champion and we bet the battle will continue till the final race at Fontana. This kind of spine chilling and nail biting finishes would certainly help CART bolster its worldwide image. Sure enough, the fans would throng to watch the cars zip past them at speeds of over 230mph. If we could give out awards now, then the best team award for their performance, and also the resurgence, would go to the Penske team. The best driver award goes to Roberto Moreno. Since Moreno has faced many ups and downs, probably more downs than ups and at this stage, to lead, or at least be in the there fighting for the championship is, in itself, an accomplishment. There will be some fans who don't agree with me. Well, that's motor racing. Go to our forums to discuss this article Comments can be sent to the author at contacts@autoracing1.com. |
||
|
e-mail us: AutoRacing1 is an
independent internet online publication and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed
by CART Inc., NASCAR, FIA, FedEx, Winston, or any other series sponsor. This material may not be published,
broadcast, or redistributed without permission. Copyright 1999 - 2000, AutoRacing1, Hamilton, NJ
|