Champ Car to announce European Team Cup
08/19/07 According to AutoRacing1.com sources, on Monday Champ Car will announce that Champ Car race teams will be gunning for the inaugural Phanos Resorts Champ Car European Cup. After a four year absence, the series returns to Europe for the first time since 2003 and will race in Belgium and The Netherlands on consecutive weekends – competing at Zolder, the former home of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix, on August 26 and the famous Assen TT circuit on September 2, renowned as the historic venue for the Dutch round of the MotoGP World Championship.
As we understand it, the Phanos Resorts Champ Car European Cup follows a similar format to the recent Champ Car Canadian Triple Crown – the results of a team’s two drivers combine to provide an average finishing position.
With a host of European Champ Car drivers competing in this year's championship, the Phanos Resorts Champ Car European Team Cup will certainly be a hotly contested prize. Minardi Team USA with Robert Doornbos of The Netherlands and Dan Clarke of Great Britain and PKV Racing with Tristan Gommendy of France and Neel Jani of Switzerland could have a slight advantage with both of their drivers from Europe.
Whereas the Canadian Triple Crown winners only got a trophy, we hear that the drivers who clinch the Phanos Resorts Champ Car European Team Cup for their team will each be rewarded with unique trophies and a luxury seven-day stay at a Phanos Resort in Europe for themselves and their partners.
While eight of the nine teams in the Champ Car World Series will have two drivers on hand for their Phanos Resorts Champ Car European Team Cup assault, Jan Heylen faces a tougher challenge as Conquest Racing’s single entry. His results will count twice in the competition we are told.