Forsythe Championship Racing to fold, Atlantic program to continue
“Forsythe Championship Racing is announcing today the cessation of its racing operations. After 13 years of competition in CART and the Champ Car World Series, the team has been unable to secure the necessary sponsorship to be able to compete in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in 2008. Forsythe Racing Inc., the parent company of FCR, will participate in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Champ Car finale, with drivers to be announced."
Officials from Forsythe Racing Inc. confirmed today that popular Canadian racer James Hinchcliffe and Mexican rising star David Garza, who logged the fastest and second-fastest times, respectively, in a recent open test at Sebring International Raceway, will continue in the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.
The two-car team will participate in the upcoming open test at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on March 10 and 11, as well as the full 12-race Atlantic season, which begins on April 18-20 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Hinchcliffe, a 21-year-old native of Toronto, is returning to the same operation with which he competed in his rookie Atlantic season in 2006. That season produced Hinchcliffe’s lone Atlantic victory to date at Portland, a pole position at Montreal and a total of three podium results, placing him 10th in the championship as part of a four-car operation. Last season, Hinchcliffe competed with Sierra Sierra Enterprises, improving greatly from his rookie campaign with three pole positions and five podiums en route to fourth in the championship.
The 19-year-old Garza, from Monterrey, Mexico, competed in his rookie Atlantic season in 2007 with US RaceTronics. He earned career-best results in each of his first six starts, topped by best finishes of eighth at Cleveland and the first race of the doubleheader at Edmonton. He finished 10th in the Rookie of the Year standings and 17th in the overall championship. As was the case in 2007, Garza’s car will carry sponsorship from Monterrey, Mexico-based Axtel, a leading carrier of communications services in Mexico.
Forsythe Racing Inc. owns a total of 27 victories and 27 pole positions in Atlantic competition and claimed the 1998 title with driver Lee Bentham, making it the most successful operation currently competing in the Atlantic Championship.