PacWest and Toyota resolve dispute

"PacWest Racing and Toyota have reached an agreement over the situation which kept the PacWest cars off-track today (Friday)," stated PacWest Media Relations Co-ordinator Tom Hollett. "Mauricio Gugelmin and Scott Dixon will be back on the track tomorrow and for the remainder of the 2001 season."

The PacWest statement was corroborated by Toyota Racing Development vice-president Jim Aust.

"We've settled our differences and the PacWest cars will be back in action tomorrow," he said.

The PacWest cars did not turn a wheel at Mid-Ohio on Friday because of a dispute between the Indianapolis-based team and Toyota over the terms of its engine supply lease.

Toyota aggressively pursued new partners during the off-season and forged deals with Newman-Haas Racing, Patrick Racing, Walker Racing and PacWest. However, PacWest is believed to be the only team in that quartet that is paying for its engine lease.

Insiders familiar with the situation said that after a successful start to the 2001 season (including a win at Nazareth and three other top-five finishes for Dixon), PacWest attempted to re-negotiate its contract with Toyota. The engine supplier apparently refused to do so and instead demanded the outstanding balance due from the team in return for its Mid-Ohio engine supply.

PacWest owner Bruce McCaw elected to play hardball with Toyota, resulting in Toyota's refusal to equip the PacWest entries with engines and key electronic components prior to Friday action at Mid-Ohio. However, the two parties managed to settle their dispute during the course of the day.

PacWest's future has been the centre of paddock speculation over the past few weeks. McCaw formed the team in 1993, and by 1997 had built it into a winner with drivers Gugelmin and Mark Blundell, who won four races between them that year. But PacWest's competitiveness waned as engine supplier Mercedes-Benz fell off the pace and eventually withdrew from the Champ Car series at the end of the 2000 season.

PacWest lost its chief sponsor Motorola to Team Green over the off-season and the team has operated in cost-cutting mode throughout 2001 after it was unable to secure a replacement sponsor. Ironically, the team has fared better on the track in 2001 than it has over the last three years, thanks in the main to the brilliance of the 21-year old Dixon, who lies sixth overall in the FedEx Championship Series standings.