Champ Car: A Sensible Silly Season

It's that time of year where a conversation with a driver or team owner can rapidly switch from gear selections, fuel feed problems and the consistency of tyre compounds to gossip about who goes where next season. Of course, the teams and drivers are rarely keen to discuss their own choices with journalists, but they're eager to chat about their rivals' prospects. It's entertaining, and as long as you remember to fit your bullshit filter, informative too.

This year, thanks to the do-over that Champ Car will receive in 2007 with the new Panoz DP01, the permutations - and, it seems, the negotiations - are apparently endless. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, but as of now, it looks like there will be an abundance of driving talent in the Champ Car World Series next year. So let's look at the prospects.

Sebastien Bourdais of course has his pick of the teams, just as his current employers Newman/Haas have their pick of drivers. Each has proven to be the best over these last three seasons, and so for the two to go their separate ways is pretty much unthinkable should the Frenchman stay within the series.

Currently that looks likely. Everyone within Champ Car - even those who don't like him - regard it as a travesty of justice that Bourdais hasn't had so much as a test in a Formula One car since 2002, but I suspect even Seb himself is starting to accept that F1 won't happen for him. His charming wife Claire was talking last weekend about getting a motorhome for next year, as they will be parents by then, and they wouldn't bother doing that if they were expecting to return to Europe on a permanent basis.

Sad for Sebastien, good for Champ Car. Once he wins his third straight title this year (a ninth-place finish at Surfers Paradise next month will seal it with one round to go), some have suggested he has nothing left to achieve in the series. Except developing a new car, and beating a new teammate.

Graham Rahal © LAT

No, there are no guarantees that current teammate Bruno Junqueira is departing, but unless Newman/Haas find the budget to run three cars, it seems likely the Brazilian will be replaced by Atlantic Championship runner-up Graham Rahal next year.

Junqueira has been terribly unlucky this year in terms of becoming the innocent victim of other drivers' misdemeanours, and there have been flashes of his old pace. But weekend in, weekend out, no one expects to see Bruno hassling his teammate anymore. Those occasions have just become interesting surprises.

Bruno is a nice guy, and that alone was enough to keep Christian Fittipaldi at Newman/Haas for seven years. But Junqueira is a better driver than Fittipaldi ever was, and he won't get a chance to prove it while he has a Bourdais complex to overcome. Moving to another team, as a clear team leader - perhaps alongside a rookie - would not only improve his confidence, but would also cast aside the nagging suspicions that he hasn't been the same driver since his accident at Indy last year.

So a Bourdais-Rahal line-up then? Not necessarily. Let's bring Justin Wilson into play here. Thanks to the recent performances of his erstwhile teammate AJ Allmendinger, the Briton's stock has been raised considerably while RuSPORT's has dwindled slightly. If the young American - who was evenly matched with Wilson at RuSPORT - could get into another car and win five of the last eight races, then it stands to reason that Wilson is carrying the RuSPORT team.

Remember how Ron Dennis capitalised on Juan Pablo Montoya's discontent at Williams to swoop in and grab him from McLaren? Well, Wilson's disappointment at RuSPORT's underachievement this year would undoubtedly have made him open to advances from Carl Haas, who would surely not blanch at running a Bourdais-Wilson line-up. Or Bourdais-Wilson-Rahal...

Where would that leave RuSPORT? Well, with the option of running two of the three drivers they're testing at Sebring this week - Ronnie Bremer, Ryan Briscoe or Adam Carroll - until Cristiano da Matta is ready to return to the No. 10 car. Remember, someone unfamiliar with Champ Cars will find 2007 the season in which they are least disadvantaged, given the change in chassis.

What they need is the talent to handle the power, and there can be no question that the three drivers on RuSPORT's list for the last two races of this season are all well capable of starting testing a new car from scratch.

Alex Tagliani © LAT

The Colorado-based squad should also consider Alex Tagliani. Tag is the Energizer Bunny of Champ Cars, never giving less than full commitment, in or out of the car. His eagerness to get involved at every level of developing a car occasionally makes him high maintenance, but that 110 per cent motivation would be a huge benefit to a team setting up the DP01.

His enthusiasm would have to be harnessed by a strong-willed race engineer, but Alex's experience and technical knowledge would reap huge dividends. As for his pace, he knows when to go flat out, he knows when to consolidate what he's got, he's quick and mature.

Tagliani will surely be available, since Team Australia (assuming Walker Racing continue in this guise) is not going to be ditching Will Power and he is likely to be joined by the squad's new Atlantic champion Simon Pagenaud.

Power currently leads the rookie standings and has been on the more experienced Tagliani's pace at quite a few venues this season. Indeed, he has been startlingly fleet given that these tracks are unfamiliar to him, and he has the basic driving talent to become a star of this series. There are a few errors in qualifying and on race day, but no more than you'd expect from a rookie.

As for Pagenaud, well, he's a talented young driver, now with $2 million US dollars in his pocket as his title prize, and Derrick Walker and Craig Gore (Team Australia's co-owners) as well as Champ Car itself have got to prove the graduation scheme works.

Forsythe Championship Racing are probably the one team in the paddock unlikely to change their driver line-up. Paul Tracy, as we know, is committed to a further five years with the team, while I cannot imagine Allmendinger moving to another team or another series.

Sure, Newman/Haas would love to pair Allmendinger with Bourdais, and I bet each driver would be up for that challenge, but don't expect Mr Haas to poach a driver from Jerry Forsythe, one of the series co-owners.

As for PKV Racing, who next year will have at least one car sponsored by Red Bull (AJ's established supporter), such a move would be a retrograde step for Allmendinger when you compare Forsythe and PKV's track records.

AJ Allmendinger drives a Toyota Truck in NASCAR © LAT

The other possibility for Allmendinger is to go to one of the NASCAR series. It would make him a rich young man, no question... But frankly, I don't see it. AJ's told me before that the reason he's not been too interested in Formula One is that (a) he simply loves Champ Cars, and (b) he would never want to change series until he'd conquered the one he's in and proven himself the best. Some might say he's already a contender for 'The Best' title, and I wouldn't argue he has the potential. But undisputed Top Cat? Not yet.

Swimming against the speculative rip tide here, but I don't believe that Red Bull are actually all that desperate to get Allmendinger in NASCAR. For one thing, he isn't a big enough star yet to generate a whole load of media fuss about it, because Champ Car simply isn't big enough yet. Consequently, they would look foolish if he was unable to convert his very special ability in a single-seater into a great stock car driving talent.

Also, Red Bull are favourably disposed towards Champ Car: sponsoring a PKV Champ Car and two of Forsythe's Atlantic cars for 2007 are not the actions of a company eager to strip the series of its primary US asset.

So what do we know about PKV Racing other than Red Bull will add their logos to at least one of the cars? Well, Neel Jani is ready and willing to join, and the deal is all but done. But who will partner him?

Oriol Servia has been one of the most impressive drivers of the season in terms of consistently mixing it with the cars from Newman/Haas, Forsythe and RuSPORT, but I dare say this will attract tempting offers from other teams, particularly newcomers like Gelles Racing who are expanding to add a two-car Champ Car outfit to their Atlantic and Formula BMW line-ups. They could do with the experience of a Servia or Tagliani.

As for Katherine Legge, she has done a sterling job to shine on circuits as disparate as the Milwaukee oval, Toronto street course and Road America road course in what was always going to be a trying year for her. There were rumours that she might be farmed out to Polestar, for whom she won three races in Atlantics last year, but the Ohio-based team's chances of graduating for 2007 appear to be growing slimmer as each week passes. My prediction is that Ms Legge will stay right where she is.

The guy that beat Legge to the Atlantic title last year, Charles Zwolsman, has done himself a power of good with his impressive runs for Conquest Racing at Road America and Denver, and like Katherine, he deserves another season. I'm not suggesting he's the next Bourdais, and unless he comes up with a hefty dollop of cash, he's unlikely to cause a bidding war for his services. But he's a useful driver with the potential to improve with greater experience. What would also count in his favour is if the European round at Assen happens.

Adam Carroll © LAT

If so, it's logical that it is with Conquest. Logical for Charles, that is. But Conquest team owner Eric Bachelart is a canny guy, and he will be well aware that there is a lot of frustrated single-seater talent out there, drivers who have given up hope of getting a Formula One opportunity now that F1 will no longer have Friday drivers. Should he keep hold of Andrew Ranger and his WalMart backing, this might give Bachelart the chance to employ a real hot shoe such as Alexandre Premat or Adam Carroll.

If Bachelart can get Don Halliday and/or Lee Dykstra - Champ Car engineers of fine repute - to move up from his Atlantic team to his Champ Car outfit, then Conquest could be potential race-winners in 2007.

Premat and Carroll are also likely to be high on Dale Coyne's list of potential drivers for next year, as are such drivers as Ronnie Bremer, Giammaria Bruni (who attended the Road America race), Giorgio Pantano, Adam Carroll...

While Dale would be the first to admit his team aren't at the Newman/Haas level, he can also very reasonably point out that the gap between the haves and the have-nots will never be narrower than at the first year with a new car. And success in the early stages of such a season can secure sponsorship to enable you to stay at that kind of level as the teams with greater resources improve. Expect to see one of the potential '07 rookies get a try-out in Surfers Paradise and possibly Mexico City this year.

Personally, I would like to see Jan Heylen retain his seat with Coyne's operation, because once he has the confidence of knowing all the tracks, as well as relative parity of equipment, he will be a top 10 qualifier everywhere. Like Dan Clarke, Heylen has found racing at this level on tracks he's never seen before a real culture shock. But he has taken to US racing and US life like a duck to water and is determined to make it work.

Speaking of Clarke, CTE Racing HVM are now unlikely to be bought out by Paul Stoddart, as autosport.com understands that the relationship between the Aussie and his potential backer Harry Muermans (sponsor of Heylen and Robert Doornbos) has become frosty of late.

This still means that CTE Racing HVM, which benefited from Kevin Kalkhoven's investment over the winter of 2005/06, are still available to potential buyers. Keith Wiggins would like to remain as hands-on manager should any buyout occur, but no question he is running a lean operation bloody well: the team are covering their financial bases and running near the front.

Alex Figge and Ryan Dalziel © LAT

Clarke and teammate Nelson Philippe would be fools to leave - and the team could do worse than keep this pair on. Clarke's growing pains, executed on a very public stage in the first half of the year, have subsided and allowed him to display his talents as a good qualifier and gritty racer. The same transformation happened to Philippe last season, and this season his confidence has moved him on even further.

Rocketsports Racing may change their name, but it won't be to Team Brazil if owner Paul Gentilozzi can persuade Mario Dominguez and his sponsors to stay on board for 2007. Frankly, they shouldn't take a lot of persuading. The Mexican is likely to be part of a Team Central America-type concept, with Antonio Pizzonia still a strong favourite with all members of the squad. A younger Brazilian, hot Atlantic prospect Raphael Matos appears to have taken himself out of the equation by re-signing for a second Atlantic season with Sierra Enterprises.

Pacific Coast Motorsports don't need to get into this driver-chasing game, having confirmed their GrandAm stars Ryan Dalziel and Alex Figge as their drivers for their debut season. If either or both shine, PCM's battle will be to hold on to them at season's end...

However, if I took Bob Gelles' place and had a new team with two seats to fill, I'd be testing whoever is left available from everyone mentioned above, and also checking out Nicolas Lapierre, Ernesto Viso, Andreas Wirth, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jay Howard. All are interested in joining Champ Cars in 2007. And that indicates the huge progress the series has made over the last two seasons.