Ma moves to Coyne

Word here in the Portland paddock is that race engineer Brian Ma has moved from Rocketsports to Dale Coyne Racing and is engineering Ricardo Sperafico's car this weekend, which by the way, is carrying a new sponsor this weekend (see photo to right). There has been no announcement but he was definitely working for Coyne's team and we assume the move was permanent.

Ma was the engineer for Ryan Hunter-Reay (left)and now we hear that Hunter-Reay has no engineer at all. Hunter-Reay was a frontrunner the last two years and we know he did not forget how to drive over the winter. To see him struggling and mired at the back of the grid just about every race this year is really bad news for Champ Car, which needs as many Americans as possible doing well. The second Rocketsports car has always struggled, regardless of the driver.

“Well, we obviously are not where we want to be," said Hunter-Reay. "It is a bit disappointing to be 16th right now, so it is going to take a lot of work for tomorrow. I was experiencing braking issues and the rear was really moving around on me this afternoon. I am not really sure what is going on, so we will have to put all of our heads together tonight and get it figured out for tomorrow."