Standing start introduction delayed

The series announced in late 2006 that standing starts would henceforth be adopted 'at venues where the starting procedure can be accommodated in a safe manner' after being successfully used in several Champ Car Atlantic races last season.

But after the drivers practised standing starts with mixed results at last weekend's Spring Training event at Laguna Seca, officials decided to postpone the introduction of the new procedure.

"Safety is our concern and we feel we need to fine-tune our standing-start process before we implement it," said Champ Car's vice-president of operations Tony Cotman.

"We will continue to work with the teams and the manufacturers to find the safest and most reliable option for the standing-start process with an eye toward using them at Portland (in June) if possible."

Engine supplier Cosworth's Ken Daigle said at Laguna that some drivers were taking to the tricky standing start procedure better than others.

"Several guys figured it out quite well. Graham Rahal really nailed it, Sebastien (Bourdais) figured it out and so did Paul (Tracy) and some others," Daigle told speedtv.com.

"The trick is not to rev the engine to the max, but to keep it a couple of hundred RPMs below the max until right before the green light, then dump the clutch and floor it. If you keep it revved to the max, the ECU is trying to control the fuel mixture, the turbo speed for an extended period of time and everything goes wonky."