Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Rossi's Challenge
Rossi's support from other teams will be limited with only one semi-factory Yamaha team contesting the series now, as the Tech 3 squad of Norick Abe and Marco Melandri continue to fight the handling issues of their M1. The new Growler engine may provide Rossi an advantage like the big bang engine that Mick Doohan had on call in the mid 90s.
Facing Rossi, the new lead Honda rider is now Alex Barros, although the likely Honda challengers for Rossi should come not from HRC but semi-factory teams Movistar, led by Sete Gibernau and Camel Pons led by Max Biaggi. Gibernau is in the best form of his life with a committed team who bonded themselves to the Spaniard and his charismatic rides after the team was rocked by the death of Daijiro Kato at Suzuka at the start of the 2003 season. Colin Edwards has joined the team, and the hard man Texan is sure to push Gibernau.
From dark blue to yellow, and Max Biaggi has the clearest shot at the title since he fought the series out with Alex Criville between the Doohan and Rossi eras, and the highly motivated Roman will do everything in his power to lift the trophy in what may be his last chance. Biaggi's teammate is Makoto Tamada, finally getting his big chance after surprising MotoGP and Superbike fields alike as a wildcard in recent seasons, but the Japanese rider will have to find his feet quickly.
Across in the scarlet, looking so much like their distant stablemates Ferrari, sit Ducati. Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss endured the first year, sorting the most powerful bikes on the grid, taming the wild Desmosedicis and placing both in the top five come season end. This year they arrive reinforced as the D'antin team toss aside their Yamahas and bring Superbike champion Neil Hodgson and runner-up Ruben Xaus into the bigs. With tyres that can last a race on a better sorted machine, wins should become more regular, and perhaps even allow the likeable Capirossi to emulate his countryman Rossi by winning a World Championship in all three divisions.
Suzuki are starting to return to form as well after two years struggling to bring the four-stroke GSV-R up to pace, so Kenny Roberts and teammate John Hopkins start the season in better shape than any year since Roberts's surprise title victory in 2000. Aprilia still have some way to go however, and the loss of Edwards will have an effect as the team regroups around Shane Byrne and Jeremy McWilliams. Proton too have much catching up to do as Roberts's younger brother Kurtis joins the series alongside Nobby Aoki. Shinya Nakano will lead Kawasaki this year along with Alex Hofmann but the green machine continues to struggle and must work towards 2005 and beyond.
South Africa once again plays host to the season opener ahead of a sixteen race season that criss-crosses the globe and ends in the adopted home of motorcycle racing, Spain. It will be the most fascinating season in almost a decade.
Entries for this year's championship:
Consolidation Begins
While things look positive on the surface, things could scarecly have been worse than it was in 2003. Crowds were down, grid numbers were down, indeed teams required financial incentives just to race, and the outstanding favourite to win the championship seemed to try his hardest to lose the title, while numerous events were plagued with inept performances, not least of which the season ending Australian race in the rain. One race was cancelled and one multi-event promoter made sufficient losses that they are in the process of ending their involvement in the series. Only five teams remain from CART's golden age with two of them reduced to the role of pay driver suppliers.
As with last year, two drivers stand out from the field as championship contenders. Canadian Paul Tracy was the support of the experienced Forsythe outfit behind him in which to defend his crown, and if anything this year will be easier, as Tracy was under tremendous pressure to win the series, not least of which because long standing Forsythe Racing sponsor Player's would not get another opportunity because of tightening tobacco advertising regulations.
Of Tracy's two teammates, Carpentier will threaten at some venues, particularly during the mid-season stretch with four out of five events in or just across the border from Canada, while Rodolfo Lavin did not show much last year, although the difference in equipment should be noticeable.
Of the other veteran teams, last start winner American Ryan Hunter-Reay joins Mexican Mario Dominguez at Herdez Competicion (nee Bettenhausen), replacing retiring veteran Roberto Moreno. Herdez is well funded and should give its two drivers equipment to upset under the right circumstances. Walker Racing will field a single car, and a Reynard at that, for second year driver Brazilian Mario Haberfeld. Dale Coyne Racing is still to announce its two drivers, although Spanish CART veteran Oriol Servia is known to have a budget and Tarso Marques has also been mentioned.
Second year teams Rocketsports Racing and PKV Racing are both expanding to two car operations, with 17 year old Frenchman Nelson Philippe joining Canadian Alex Tagliani at Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports operation. Tags should be quick but Philippe is a complete question mark. Over at PKV, US veteran Jimmy Vasser is now a co-owner in his swansong year behind the steering wheel. Joining him is Mexican Roberto Gonzalez who had two races last season in Champ Cars. PK Racing was uncompetitive last year but lacked direction, Vasser will provide that, with Gonzalez bringing the enthusiasm of youth, but a question mark still hangs over this fledgling team. PKV will expand to a third car for the Australian event for 17 year old karter Josh Hunt.
Finally, Toyota Atlantic team RuSPORT graduate to Champ Cars, along with their star pupil and Atlantics champion, American A.J. Allmendinger. He will have a perfect mentor in Mexican Michel Jourdain Jr. Last year Jourdain was a title contender in a Rahal car, but times change. With a new team, can Jourdain's consistency be fully realised? Allmendinger is a talent on the rise and the larger teams will be watching him.
The series begins at the glamorous surrounds of Long Beach before travelling to Monterrey, Mexico, ahead of stops in Milwaukee, Portland, Cleveland, Toronto, Vancouver, Elkhart Lake, Denver and Montreal before retuning to warm climes at Laguna Seca, then going on the overseas long haul to Korea and Australia before returning to Mexico City for the provisional season finale. TBAs exist on the schedule at season end and after Laguna Seca but both appear less likely than ever to amount to proposed events at Las Vegas and South Africa.
Last year the series was worth watching, much more for its off-track dramas than the racing. This year should see the tide start to turn towards the on-track action, but all the same the status of the one-time rival to Formula One remains shaky. With a month's gap to the second event at Monterrey it is all the more essential that Long Beach re-establishes Champ Car racing.
Entries for this year's championship:
Add Two Doors
Defending champions Mercedes-Benz have ostensibly the car most like its predecessor on the outside, but the car the four AMG cars will field is all-new. The experience versus youth battle that was the the race for the title between veteran German Bernd Schneider and the rookie Dutchman Christijan Albers return to lead the AMG squad alongside French veteran Jean Alesi and second year DTM driver Gary Paffett. Semi-factory teams Persson and Keke Rosberg's outfit will both continue with the older CLK-DTMs for at least the early part of the season, with three young open wheeler drivers: Mercedes program Formula 3 drivers Markus Winkelhock and Stefan Mucke and Formula 3000 driver Jaroslav Janis join Bernd Maylander in the older cars. Albers was the fastest at the final pre-season test session at Brno, putting development of the new car firmly on track.
Most promising of all the new drivers in DTM is Formula One refugee Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who is leading a new charge for Opel. The new start for Opel with the Vectra over the at times troublesome Astra V8 has reaped immediate returns with Frentzen amongst the fastest in testing in the Holzer Vectra, matching the pace of Opel's leader, Frenchman Laurent Aiello in the Phoenix Vectra. Former Mercedes frontrunner Marcel Fassler has adapted quickly to the Vectra, joining Aiello and Peter Dumbreck at Phoenix, while Frentzen has joins Manuel Reuter and Timo Scheider at Holzer in two strong line-ups.
After the Hockenheim opener, the series travels to Estoril (Portugal) and Adria (Italy) before a four race stretch in Germany taking in the Lausitzring, Norisring, Nurburgring and Oschersleben before Zandvoort (Netherlands), Brno (Czech Republic) with the series returning to Hockenheim for the finale in October.
Leading entries for this year's championship:
Martin Hopes To Give New Focus A Winning Debut
Estonian Markko Martin believes his new Ford can help him seize the outright World Rally Championship lead in New Zealand this weekend. Martin won the last round in Mexico and is level on 20 points with Citroen's French driver Sebastien Loeb at the top of the standings after three rallies.
Ford's 2004 specification Focus will make its debut on the gravel roads around Auckland and Martin said it already looked like a winner for a team leading the manufacturers' championship.
"Victory in Mexico was a superb result and we need to follow that up by going to New Zealand and winning there as well," he said before his departure.
"There's no reason why we can't do that. The 2004 Focus has felt good in tests and I'm looking forward to getting the feel of it on a rally."
The rally starts with two 2.10 kilometre special stages on Thursday evening before the first leg on Friday.
Loeb, winner of the season's first two rallies, was also confident before an event he described as one of his favourites. He said he was also driving far more smoothly than before.
"Given how competitive we were in Mexico, a good pointer because it was so varied, I won't pretend that I don't hope to be quick and fighting for victory," he said.
Peugeot were the fastest team in the pre-event 'shakedown' on Wednesday with double World Champion Marcus Gronholm leading the way. The lanky Finn has won the event three times in four years and is third overall in the championship on 16 points.
"Our car has already shown it is quick and, after all the work we have just put in, we should be competitive," said Gronholm.
Subaru's Norwegian Petter Solberg, the 2003 champion, was third fastest with Loeb fifth and Martin 10th.
Report provided by Reuters
MotoGP
No longer is 'The Doctor' the automatic favourite to be champion. This year Valentino Rossi will have to work hard to be champion. And that is exactly how he wants it. Bored with the string of successes with the HRC Honda RC211V, Rossi steps onto the powerful but wayward YZR M1, joining Charlie Checa aboard the full factory Yamaha squad. Rossi has brought virtually his entire Honda team across with him, giving Yamaha a huge boost in experience.
Barros leads the official Honda team along with Nicky Hayden but it remains to be seen how the Repsol-backed team will fare without Rossi and his Australian-led team of mechanics and engineers that formed around Mick Doohan in the mid 90s. New bike developments should arrive here first so a mechanical advantage may keep Barros at the front.
No Rider Motorcycle
3 Max Biaggi Camel Pramac Pons Honda RC211V
4 Alex Barros Repsol HRC Honda RC211V
6 Makoto Tamada Camel Pramac Pons Honda RC211V
7 Carlos Checa Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha YZR M1
9 Nobuatsu Aoki Proton Team KR3
10 Kenny Roberts Team Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R
11 Ruben Xaus D'antin Ducati Desmocidici
12 Troy Bayliss Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Desmocidici
15 Sete Gibernau Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V
17 Norick Abe Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha YZR M1
21 John Hopkins Team Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R
33 Marco Melandri Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha YZR M1
45 Colin Edwards Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V
46 Valentino Rossi Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha YZR M1
50 Neil Hodgson D'antin Ducati Desmocidici
56 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-RR
65 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Desmocidici
66 Alex Hofmann Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-RR
67 Shane Byrne MS Aprilia Racing Aprilia Cube
69 Nicky Hayden Repsol HRC Honda RC211V
80 Kurtis Roberts Proton Team KR3
99 Jeremy McWilliams MS Aprilia Racing Aprilia Cube
OWRS
CART staggered through 2003, and ultimately fell on its own sword as the season came to a close. The Open Wheel Racing Series has picked up the pieces at firesale auction and started putting the pieces in place. Two teams, one of them a team of long standing, left at the worst moment, but still 18 cars have been assembled for the first race this weekend in Long Beach. The top six drivers from last year's season are back again and lead an entry list that has not suffered for quality from last year's list.
His main rival will again be Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, although his Newman/Haas teammate, last year's rookie of the year Sebastien Bourdais must also be rated. The Frenchman showed scintillating pace at times last year, and the year spent learning cars and circuits will have helped him enormously. The two have have the support of one of the two giant teams of CART history in Newman/Haas Racing, with Carl Haas and Paul Newman steadfast in their opposition to IRL.
Another second year team, Mi-Jack Conquest returns with one of its 2003 Reynards for Brazilian Alex Sperafico and have acquired sufficient budget to acquire a Lola for Formula One refugee Brit Justin Wilson. Wilson's experience should see him adapt quickly, but will the team be able to support his ambitions?
No Driver Car
1 Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
2 Sebastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Lola-Ford
3 Rodolfo Lavin Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
4 Ryan Hunter-Reay Herdez Competition Lola-Ford
5 Mario Haberfeld Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
6 Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Lola-Ford
7 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
8 Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
9 Michel Jourdain Jr RuSPORT Lola-Ford
10 A.J. Allmendinger RuSPORT Lola-Ford
11 TBA Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford
12 Jimmy Vasser PKV Racing Lola-Ford
17 Nelson Philippe Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
19 TBA Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford
21 Roberto Gonzalez PKV Racing Lola-Ford
24 Alex Sperafico Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard-Ford
34 Justin Wilson Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Lola-Ford
55 Mario Dominguez Herdez Competition Lola-Ford
DTM
Europe's most visually exciting tin-top series gets under way at Hockenheim this weekend and it is all change for the DTM. New cars abound as the regulations change to specify four-door source vehicles. Mercedes-Benz have returned to the model they used in the original version of DTM in the mid 90s, the four-door version of the C-Class sedan. Opel have replaced the Astra Coupe with the larger Vectra, while the most dramatic change is at Audi as the Sportsline built TT-R sports car is replaced by the A4 sedan. Control tyres from Dunlop increase the learning curve as Audi, Mercedes and Opel have pounded the circuits over the last two months.
Previously, the Abt Sportsline team have represented Audi in DTM, but Audi are getting serious about DTM this year. In addition to increased support for Sportsline's four car squad of A4s, the Ingolstadt former representatives in sportscar racing Team Joest return to DTM along with touring car veterans Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela, who in their time away from touring cars won Le Mans three times for Joest. Fastest of the new Audis in testing has been Mattias Ekstrom in the Sportsline A4 just ahead of new recruit from sportscars Tom Kristensen, with Martin Tomcyzk and Christian Abt completing the Abt lineup.
No Driver Car
1 Bernd Schneider AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
2 Christijan Albers AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
3 Marcel Fassler Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8
4 Laurent Aiello Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8
5 Mattias Ekstrom Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
6 Martin Tomczyk Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
7 Jean Alesi AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
8 Gary Paffett AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
9 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Team Holzer Opel Vectra GTS V8
10 Manuel Reuter Team Holzer Opel Vectra GTS V8
11 Christian Abt Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
12 Tom Kristensen Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
14 Peter Dumbreck Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8
15 Timo Scheider Team Holzer Opel Vectra GTS V8
16 Jeroen Bleekemolen Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupe
17 Markus Winkelhock Team Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
18 Stefan Mucke Team Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
20 Jaroslav Janis Team Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
21 Bernd Maylander Team Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
44 Emanuele Pirro Team Joest Audi A4 DTM
45 Frank Biela Team Joest Audi A4 DTM
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Volume 10, Issue 15
Special Issue
View from the Imola Paddock
The Feud with Prost
A Lesson in Safety
From Fangio to Schumacher
The Dark Side of the Man
Memories of May
Keith Sutton: The Senna Collection
Columns
Elsewhere in Racing
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