Champcar World Series Newsletter
SNEAK PREVIEW FOR EURO CHAMP CAR FANS
While the Champ Car World Series does battle at Road America
in the US this weekend, European Champ Car fans will get the
chance to grab a sneak preview of the championship's forthcoming
European tour at the Rizla Racing Day at the Assen circuit
in Holland on Sunday.
Young German driver Andreas Wirth will climb behind the wheel
of a 2006 PKV Racing Champ Car in an attempt to break the
outright lap record of 1 minute 32.184 seconds.
A graduate of the Champ Car Atlantic Series, Wirth made two
starts in the Champ Car World Series last year for Dale Coyne
Racing – scoring a top ten finish on his debut.
The Rizla Racing Day features a combination of car racing,
motorcycle racing and superkarts including Supersport, Superstock
and Superbike bike classes, the CIK-FIA European Superkart
Championship, the German Formula 3 Championship and the Dutch
Supercar Challenge.
Other demonstrations will include laps from the Suzuki factory
MotoGP squad with John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen –
their second visit to Assen this year. Hopkins finished 5th
in this year's Dutch TT in June.
Wirth scored three wins and three pole positions in the Champ
Car Atlantic Championship over the past two years.
The German star also clinched the 2004 Formula BMW USA Championship
in his first season in North America. He will hit the track
at Assen from 2.00pm this Sunday, August 12.
The Champ Car World Series will visit Assen from August 31-September
2 – one week after the championship's 2007 European
debut at Zolder in Belgium from August 24-26.
WILSON BANKING ON EURO SUCCESS
Britain's Justin Wilson has his sights set on using the European
rounds of the Champ Car World Series to launch an assault
to return to the top three in the title chase.
Currently 4th in the 2007 championship, Wilson finished 3rd
and 2nd in the past two seasons with the RuSPORTS squad.
For 2007, RuSPORTS and the Rocketsports team merged to become
RSPORTS with Alex Tagliani joining Wilson as his team-mate.
Wilson has become a consistent contender for race victories
in the Champ Car World Series after switching from Formula
1.
Despite becoming the only Brit to ever win the FIA Formula
3000 championship, Wilson had to raise a budget for a Formula
1 seat in 2003. He used a unique fundraising scheme where
investors purchased "shares" in his career.
While the F1 opportunities for the tall Englishman dried
up despite his talent, Wilson has been providing a strong
return on investment for his shareholders in Champ Car.
"In Champ Car it’s great to know that you can
make a difference as a driver," Wilson said.
"If you make a mistake or you get it wrong, you might
end up mid field or further back if you get things right,
you are going to be fighting for pole position.
"It’s down to how you use the tools and resources
of the team to make that difference. You always have a chance
of doing well if you work hard and put the effort in, you
are going to improve."
ROAD COURSE WARM-UP FOR EURO TRIP
After a run of recent street and airport tracks, the Champ
Car World Series returns to road course racing this weekend
when the championship visits Road America at Elkhart Lake
in Wisconsin.
Regarded as one of finest road courses in North America –
if not the world – Road America is the longest circuit
on the Champ Car World Series calendar at 4.048 miles (6.51
kilometres)
The wide variety of circuits on the championship calendar
provide a unique challenge to the drivers with Road America
being one of six permanent road courses on the calendar along
with Portland, Mont-Tremblant, the European events at Zolder
and Assen as well as Mexico City.
Downtown street races are staged at Las Vegas, Long Beach,
Houston, Toronto, Surfers Paradise in Australia and the season-closing
event in Phoenix.
Two unique races based on airport runways are held in Cleveland
(one of the longest standing events on the calendar) and Edmonton,
Canada.
Former Road America winners doing battle this weekend include
Paul Tracy (1993 and 2000), Bruno Junqueira (2001 and 2003)
and Alex Tagliani (2004).
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