KV Racing Technology appears ready to establish itself as one of the "big three" in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2010, fielding three full-time cars for Takuma Sato, E.J. Viso, and Mario Moraes.
They were the top former Champ Car team in 2008, bringing over Oriol Servia and Will Power to IndyCar and winning the final Champ Car race with Power at Long Beach. While most transitioning Champ Car drivers were declared rookies in IndyCar, Servia's consistent performance led the series to declare him a veteran about halfway through the season. Last year, Moraes took over the team's lead car, and ended the year with four consecutive finishes of seventh or better as he began to establish himself as a legitimate contender.
This year, team owner Jimmy Vasser took the money from longtime Honda Formula 1 driver Sato and Venezuelan oil-backed Viso, and put them in cars that were already fast. The results were two cars that were often near the top of the charts in testing, with Sato challenging some of the top teams in the series in his first IndyCar experience.
Moraes did not test for the team, as James Rossiter was briefly in the seat, but when his funding fell through, Moraes was brought back for the duration. Vasser's tutelage last year helped calm the young driver, who often raced like a dart without feathers and actually wrecked Viso after the checkered flag fell in Toronto last year. Viso, for his part, was no star either, failing to finish each of the first seven races for some reason or another and finishing last in the standings of full-time competitors. He, too, should benefit from the 1996 CART champion's expertise. Given the quality of the equipment that will be furnished for them, they should each contend for their maiden wins in 2010.
Sato, Japan's most successful F1 driver of all time, should contend for victories on the road courses as well. His lack of oval experience and total lack of a ride last year, however, will be the two things that may keep him from the upper echelon of the standings. He will have four races to score a lot of points before the series' first oval stretch, but his only pseudo-oval experience came at Indianapolis in F1; to his credit, he scored his only career F1 podium at the track.
As for a potential fourth car, Rossiter is working to sort out sponsorship issues to return to the team. Paul Tracy will run Indianapolis and likely the Canadian races for the team in a similar program to the one he had with the team last year.
KV has the lineup and the equipment to win races this year, and to fail to do so will be nothing short of a disappointment. It may be too much to ask to put all three drivers in the top half of points, but given the team's driver development record as of late, it isn't out of the question.
Showing posts with label James Rossiter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Rossiter. Show all posts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Moraes Returns to KVRT
Mario Moraes will return to KV Racing Technology for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season after securing a last-minute deal.
The Brazilian-born Moraes drove for the team last season, finishing 14th in points in 16 starts, and visited with the team during preseason testing last month.
Last season was a bit of a struggle for the young driver. He qualified for last year's Indianapolis 500 on the first day of time trials, only to fall out of the race in a first-lap wreck. He also missed Mid-Ohio due to the death of his father.
After returning to the circuit, however, Moraes finished no worse than seventh, with three top five runs and a best finish of third at Chicagoland. This late season push suggested that Moraes would retain his ride for the 2010 season.
However, Japanese Formula 1 veteran Takuma Sato took over the No. 5 Dallara-Honda that Moraes ran last season, and with E.J. Viso and James Rossiter in the team's other cars during testing, it appeared that Moraes and his backing from Votorantim (a Brazilian industrial conglomerate owned by his grandfather) and Azul Tequila would not return for 2010.
In the past 24 hours, Rossiter's deal to pilot the No. 32 Dallara-Honda fell through, allowing Moraes to return to the team.
Per a news release posted on KVRT's Facebook page, the car will be sponsored by Banco Panamericano, at least for the Brazil race.
The Brazilian-born Moraes drove for the team last season, finishing 14th in points in 16 starts, and visited with the team during preseason testing last month.
Last season was a bit of a struggle for the young driver. He qualified for last year's Indianapolis 500 on the first day of time trials, only to fall out of the race in a first-lap wreck. He also missed Mid-Ohio due to the death of his father.
After returning to the circuit, however, Moraes finished no worse than seventh, with three top five runs and a best finish of third at Chicagoland. This late season push suggested that Moraes would retain his ride for the 2010 season.
However, Japanese Formula 1 veteran Takuma Sato took over the No. 5 Dallara-Honda that Moraes ran last season, and with E.J. Viso and James Rossiter in the team's other cars during testing, it appeared that Moraes and his backing from Votorantim (a Brazilian industrial conglomerate owned by his grandfather) and Azul Tequila would not return for 2010.
In the past 24 hours, Rossiter's deal to pilot the No. 32 Dallara-Honda fell through, allowing Moraes to return to the team.
Per a news release posted on KVRT's Facebook page, the car will be sponsored by Banco Panamericano, at least for the Brazil race.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie Preview
This year the IZOD IndyCar Series will welcome at least five full-time rookie drivers, with two others running limited schedules at the very least. A diverse crowd featuring drivers from four different continents will battle for rookie of the year honors in one of the greatest rookie classes that any form of American motorsport has seen in years.
The group is led by Japanese star Takuma Sato, a longtime veteran of Formula 1 who will join KV Racing Technology in its No. 5 Dallara-Honda. Sato spent parts of seven seasons in F1, all for Honda-powered teams, scoring a grand total of 44 points. His best season was 2004, where he scored 34 points to finish eighth overall, and his lone career podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sato was quick in preseason testing, besting many series veterans.
Joining Sato at KVRT will be British standout James Rossiter, whose F1 dreams fell through this year with the collapse of USF1. Rossiter was a former Honda test driver in the series who also ran in the American Le Mans Series for the former Andretti Green Racing team. Rossiter has experience in Formula 3, World Series by Renault, and British Formula Renault, where he formerly competed against 2008 F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Mario Romancini is among the Firestone Indy Lights Series graduates to step up this year, joining Conquest Racing for the full season. Romancini won two Lights races last season to finish sixth in points with Andersen Racing. Since beginning his racing career in 2006, he has scored five wins in 55 starts over four different series.
Richard Antinucci is the other full-time Lights graduate to run for rookie of the year, though he made five starts last season. He will rejoin Team 3G for a program that starts after the Brazil race. His best finish last year was a 15th at Infineon Raceway. He finished second in Lights in 2008, and has four career wins in 25 starts in the series.
The final full-time driver to compete for this year's rookie of the year honors is Swiss pilot Simona de Silvestro, already painted as the chief female rival to Danica Patrick. De Silvestro dominated much of last year's Atlantic Championship, taking the title fight to the final race. She scored four wins last season, making her arguably the most successful driver last year of all potential rookie candidates.
Each driver has something going for them to suggest their capability of winning the award. Sato and Rossiter drive for the best team competing for the award; Romancini and Antinucci are most familiar with the tracks; de Silvestro has the most momentum from a highly successful 2009. All are worthy candidates, and all should contend for the award.
As for the part-timers, Sebastian Saavedra will move up for up to five races with Bryan Herta Autosport while attempting to win this year's Lights title. He won two races last season for Andretti Green to finish third in points. One win took place on the oval in Kansas; the other win was taken from the pole on the streets of Toronto.
Jay Howard will make up for an aborted rookie campaign in 2008 to run five races for Sarah Fisher Racing in a second car. Howard scored two 13th-place finishes in 2008 before losing his ride at Roth Racing to John Andretti. The 2007 Lights champion then returned to the series for 2009, starting the first five races and accruing two top fives and four top-10s.
Finally, Ana Beatriz will compete in the season-opening Brazil race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, with the possibility of more events if she can bring funding. Beatriz raced in Lights the past two years, finishing third in 2008 and eighth last year. She scored one win each year, and had six top five finishes last year despite missing two races.
The group is led by Japanese star Takuma Sato, a longtime veteran of Formula 1 who will join KV Racing Technology in its No. 5 Dallara-Honda. Sato spent parts of seven seasons in F1, all for Honda-powered teams, scoring a grand total of 44 points. His best season was 2004, where he scored 34 points to finish eighth overall, and his lone career podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sato was quick in preseason testing, besting many series veterans.
Joining Sato at KVRT will be British standout James Rossiter, whose F1 dreams fell through this year with the collapse of USF1. Rossiter was a former Honda test driver in the series who also ran in the American Le Mans Series for the former Andretti Green Racing team. Rossiter has experience in Formula 3, World Series by Renault, and British Formula Renault, where he formerly competed against 2008 F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Mario Romancini is among the Firestone Indy Lights Series graduates to step up this year, joining Conquest Racing for the full season. Romancini won two Lights races last season to finish sixth in points with Andersen Racing. Since beginning his racing career in 2006, he has scored five wins in 55 starts over four different series.
Richard Antinucci is the other full-time Lights graduate to run for rookie of the year, though he made five starts last season. He will rejoin Team 3G for a program that starts after the Brazil race. His best finish last year was a 15th at Infineon Raceway. He finished second in Lights in 2008, and has four career wins in 25 starts in the series.
The final full-time driver to compete for this year's rookie of the year honors is Swiss pilot Simona de Silvestro, already painted as the chief female rival to Danica Patrick. De Silvestro dominated much of last year's Atlantic Championship, taking the title fight to the final race. She scored four wins last season, making her arguably the most successful driver last year of all potential rookie candidates.
Each driver has something going for them to suggest their capability of winning the award. Sato and Rossiter drive for the best team competing for the award; Romancini and Antinucci are most familiar with the tracks; de Silvestro has the most momentum from a highly successful 2009. All are worthy candidates, and all should contend for the award.
As for the part-timers, Sebastian Saavedra will move up for up to five races with Bryan Herta Autosport while attempting to win this year's Lights title. He won two races last season for Andretti Green to finish third in points. One win took place on the oval in Kansas; the other win was taken from the pole on the streets of Toronto.
Jay Howard will make up for an aborted rookie campaign in 2008 to run five races for Sarah Fisher Racing in a second car. Howard scored two 13th-place finishes in 2008 before losing his ride at Roth Racing to John Andretti. The 2007 Lights champion then returned to the series for 2009, starting the first five races and accruing two top fives and four top-10s.
Finally, Ana Beatriz will compete in the season-opening Brazil race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, with the possibility of more events if she can bring funding. Beatriz raced in Lights the past two years, finishing third in 2008 and eighth last year. She scored one win each year, and had six top five finishes last year despite missing two races.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
USF1: It Was Fun While It Lasted
USF1, a proposed Formula 1 team that was to compete in the 2010 Formula 1 season, has reportedly officially shut down, just over a year after its creation.
Its demise comes as no shock to insiders, who have been reporting for the past month or so that the team was on the verge of collapse. While two of the other four teams new to the grid in 2010 have launched their cars, and a third was recently rescued from the brink of disaster, USF1 could not put anything together in time for the season, soiling the names of technical director Ken Anderson and former team manager Peter Windsor.
The USF1 saga has been nothing short of a disaster, and those of us paying attention would probably rather forget the sad tale. But for those interested, here is a timeline of relevant events to the team's brief history:
2009
February 24: Anderson and Windsor appear on the Speed Channel, announcing their intent to field a team in the 2010 Formula 1 season. The goal would be to create a completely American team, based in the States, that fielded only American drivers. The FIA had recently announced its intention to open up the grid to new teams in 2010. Windsor was, at the time, a pit reporter for Speed, and one of the only people the channel sent to every race on the F1 schedule.
June 12: USF1 is granted entry to the 2010 Formula 1 season, alongside the Campos Meta team and Manor Grand Prix. None of the three teams will enter 2010 as they were originally granted entry. USF1 will be based out of a shop formerly used by top NASCAR teams.
July 29: USF1 signs the sport's Concorde Agreement after squabbling between the sanctioning body and teams already in the championship ends.
August 7: Windsor tells Sports Illustrated that USF1 will not take on pay drivers for the 2010 season, reaffirming the team's goal of providing American drivers with F1 opportunities.
August 19: Windsor reveals that one of the team's primary investors will be Chad Hurley, founder of YouTube.
September 16: Computerized images of USF1's car, as yet unnamed in the design process, are revealed on a SpeedTV.com webcast. Anderson suggests that a rolling model will be built within the next month.
October 30: USF1 announces that it will establish a secondary base in Alcaniz, Spain, at the Motorland Aragon circuit. The team did not want to waste time and/or money shipping integral equipment back to its Charlotte, NC base during the European rounds of the season.
November 21: Argentinian driver Jose Maria Lopez announces that he will drive for USF1 provided he can secure $8 million worth of sponsorship.
December: USF1 signs British driver James Rossiter to a contract. It is not announced to the press. Chassis moulds are completed, but sit for a month waiting to be laid up.
December 22: Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of F1, expresses doubts publicly that USF1 and Campos will make it to the F1 grid in 2010. "I think the people we expected to perform will and those that we thought wouldn't, won't," he says to British newspaper The Times.
December 23: Windsor refutes Ecclestone's doubts that USF1 will be ready for the start of the 2010 season. USF1 launches a fully functional website.
2010
January 15: Hurley tours the Charlotte facility and, according to later reports, becomes aware of problems with the team. Paychecks due to team members on this date are late.
January 18: More CGI renderings of the USF1 Type 1 are revealed on racecar-engineering.com. Author Lawrence Butcher refutes widespread public doubt that the team's race shop is fully functional, providing a photographic tour of the shop. The article also says that USF1 can build its entire car in-house, but that time constraints are forcing them to outsource some of the work.
January 20: Paychecks due on January 15 arrive to team members.
January 25: Lopez signs with USF1.
January/February: In a team meeting, Windsor rhetorically asks his team who thinks that USF1 will not make the grid for the start of the season. Every crew member raises a hand.
February: Rossiter's sponsors seek reassurance that all was going well with USF1. After guarantees could not be made, Rossiter exits the deal. Windsor tells Lopez that the team is in trouble, and Lopez, too, begins to look for a way out.
February 10: In response to rumors of USF1's struggles, and the suggestion that the Concorde Agreement allows for teams to miss up to three races, the FIA releases a clarifying statement that confirms teams will be penalized for missing races.
February 18: Multiple sources report that crash testing for the car in England, press interviews, and all other testing of the Type 1 has either been been called off or was never scheduled in the first place. The blame is placed on sponsors not coming through. The USF1 website goes down, but the team uses social media to affirm it still exists.
February 19: Anderson announces that USF1 cannot possibly make it to the first race of the season. He says that Lopez remains under contract, the team has a five-year lease in its Charlotte shop despite the fact that the building itself is listed for sale by its owner, and the team can build a car in time for the fifth race of the season with additional money. The USF1 website is restored.
February 20: Anderson petitions the FIA for a reprieve from the first four races of the season, in order to allow the team to finish building the car. The team would then debut in early May in Spain.
February 24: Charlie Whiting, F1 race director, inspects the USF1 shop for fitness. An insider suggests that only Hurley can save the team, accusing Anderson and Windsor of mismanagement.
February 26: Chad Hurley discusses merging USF1 with another team for the 2010 season, but talks are unsuccessful. Anderson and Windsor oppose the deal.
March 1: USF1 asks to have its entry into the sport delayed until 2011. Speed announces a replacement for Windsor on its F1 broadcast team, journalist Will Buxton.
March 2: All team employees are put on unpaid leave. Lopez is officially freed from the USF1 contract, and his legal team is working on reclaiming the $830,000 advance he paid to join. Blame for the team's failure is placed on Anderson. Neither Anderson nor Windsor can be reached for comment.
USF1 may yet be restored to F1 in time for the 2011 season, but at this point it appears unlikely. Its position on the grid will likely be forfeited, and the legal mess may just be beginning for the failed organization. Where this leaves Windsor and Anderson is anyone's guess.
Its demise comes as no shock to insiders, who have been reporting for the past month or so that the team was on the verge of collapse. While two of the other four teams new to the grid in 2010 have launched their cars, and a third was recently rescued from the brink of disaster, USF1 could not put anything together in time for the season, soiling the names of technical director Ken Anderson and former team manager Peter Windsor.
The USF1 saga has been nothing short of a disaster, and those of us paying attention would probably rather forget the sad tale. But for those interested, here is a timeline of relevant events to the team's brief history:
2009
February 24: Anderson and Windsor appear on the Speed Channel, announcing their intent to field a team in the 2010 Formula 1 season. The goal would be to create a completely American team, based in the States, that fielded only American drivers. The FIA had recently announced its intention to open up the grid to new teams in 2010. Windsor was, at the time, a pit reporter for Speed, and one of the only people the channel sent to every race on the F1 schedule.
June 12: USF1 is granted entry to the 2010 Formula 1 season, alongside the Campos Meta team and Manor Grand Prix. None of the three teams will enter 2010 as they were originally granted entry. USF1 will be based out of a shop formerly used by top NASCAR teams.
July 29: USF1 signs the sport's Concorde Agreement after squabbling between the sanctioning body and teams already in the championship ends.
August 7: Windsor tells Sports Illustrated that USF1 will not take on pay drivers for the 2010 season, reaffirming the team's goal of providing American drivers with F1 opportunities.
August 19: Windsor reveals that one of the team's primary investors will be Chad Hurley, founder of YouTube.
September 16: Computerized images of USF1's car, as yet unnamed in the design process, are revealed on a SpeedTV.com webcast. Anderson suggests that a rolling model will be built within the next month.
October 30: USF1 announces that it will establish a secondary base in Alcaniz, Spain, at the Motorland Aragon circuit. The team did not want to waste time and/or money shipping integral equipment back to its Charlotte, NC base during the European rounds of the season.
November 21: Argentinian driver Jose Maria Lopez announces that he will drive for USF1 provided he can secure $8 million worth of sponsorship.
December: USF1 signs British driver James Rossiter to a contract. It is not announced to the press. Chassis moulds are completed, but sit for a month waiting to be laid up.
December 22: Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of F1, expresses doubts publicly that USF1 and Campos will make it to the F1 grid in 2010. "I think the people we expected to perform will and those that we thought wouldn't, won't," he says to British newspaper The Times.
December 23: Windsor refutes Ecclestone's doubts that USF1 will be ready for the start of the 2010 season. USF1 launches a fully functional website.
2010
January 15: Hurley tours the Charlotte facility and, according to later reports, becomes aware of problems with the team. Paychecks due to team members on this date are late.
January 18: More CGI renderings of the USF1 Type 1 are revealed on racecar-engineering.com. Author Lawrence Butcher refutes widespread public doubt that the team's race shop is fully functional, providing a photographic tour of the shop. The article also says that USF1 can build its entire car in-house, but that time constraints are forcing them to outsource some of the work.
January 20: Paychecks due on January 15 arrive to team members.
January 25: Lopez signs with USF1.
January/February: In a team meeting, Windsor rhetorically asks his team who thinks that USF1 will not make the grid for the start of the season. Every crew member raises a hand.
February: Rossiter's sponsors seek reassurance that all was going well with USF1. After guarantees could not be made, Rossiter exits the deal. Windsor tells Lopez that the team is in trouble, and Lopez, too, begins to look for a way out.
February 10: In response to rumors of USF1's struggles, and the suggestion that the Concorde Agreement allows for teams to miss up to three races, the FIA releases a clarifying statement that confirms teams will be penalized for missing races.
February 18: Multiple sources report that crash testing for the car in England, press interviews, and all other testing of the Type 1 has either been been called off or was never scheduled in the first place. The blame is placed on sponsors not coming through. The USF1 website goes down, but the team uses social media to affirm it still exists.
February 19: Anderson announces that USF1 cannot possibly make it to the first race of the season. He says that Lopez remains under contract, the team has a five-year lease in its Charlotte shop despite the fact that the building itself is listed for sale by its owner, and the team can build a car in time for the fifth race of the season with additional money. The USF1 website is restored.
February 20: Anderson petitions the FIA for a reprieve from the first four races of the season, in order to allow the team to finish building the car. The team would then debut in early May in Spain.
February 24: Charlie Whiting, F1 race director, inspects the USF1 shop for fitness. An insider suggests that only Hurley can save the team, accusing Anderson and Windsor of mismanagement.
February 26: Chad Hurley discusses merging USF1 with another team for the 2010 season, but talks are unsuccessful. Anderson and Windsor oppose the deal.
March 1: USF1 asks to have its entry into the sport delayed until 2011. Speed announces a replacement for Windsor on its F1 broadcast team, journalist Will Buxton.
March 2: All team employees are put on unpaid leave. Lopez is officially freed from the USF1 contract, and his legal team is working on reclaiming the $830,000 advance he paid to join. Blame for the team's failure is placed on Anderson. Neither Anderson nor Windsor can be reached for comment.
USF1 may yet be restored to F1 in time for the 2011 season, but at this point it appears unlikely. Its position on the grid will likely be forfeited, and the legal mess may just be beginning for the failed organization. Where this leaves Windsor and Anderson is anyone's guess.
Lotus Looking to IndyCar in the Present and Future
The renaissance of the Lotus brand continues as Team Lotus USA will reportedly field two cars in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season.
Originally, reports suggested that Lotus would return to the Indianapolis 500 only, which they won in 1965 with Jim Clark behind the wheel. Then it appeared that the brand would back James Rossiter at KV Racing Technology. Now it appears that the brand looks to make a stronger push into American open-wheel racing.
Lotus recently announced a partnership with Cosworth to develop engines for racing based on those in its road cars. Cosworth is partially owned by Kevin Kalkhoven, the "K" in KVRT. Cosworth supplied engines exclusively for Champ Car, which was run by Kalkhoven, from the mid-2000s through the series' demise in 2008. The company also supplies the spec engine for Formula 1, which the Lotus F1 team campaigns. (It is important to note that the Lotus involved with IndyCar is the "real" Lotus, the car company itself, and not related to the F1 team that licenses its name.)
This partnership may influence the brand's participation in IndyCar in 2012. The latest rumor is that Lotus will build its own car - chassis and engine - for 2012 and beyond. Lotus, however, does not appear intent on becoming an exclusive chassis supplier to the sport, instead harkening back to the innovation of Indy 500s past, and the uniqueness of each car still seen in F1 today.
The engine, however, would likely be used by multiple teams. It would probably signal a return to the series, and the sport, for Cosworth, and perhaps use Lotus badging. KVRT would be a likely bet to run the engine for the reasons stated above; if Gerald Forsythe ever returns to the ranks of open-wheel team ownership, the other owner of Cosworth would likely use the engine too. Many of the most enduring IndyCar teams have used Cosworth engines at one point or another.
Cosworth was shut out from IndyCar in 2008 when Champ Car was bought out, and this would likely be the best way for them to return. While they did not attend more than one of IndyCar's engine spec meetings in 2008, Lotus looks to build a turbocharged V6 engine with the company - exactly the type of engine that current IndyCar supplier Honda is looking for in 2012.
Originally, reports suggested that Lotus would return to the Indianapolis 500 only, which they won in 1965 with Jim Clark behind the wheel. Then it appeared that the brand would back James Rossiter at KV Racing Technology. Now it appears that the brand looks to make a stronger push into American open-wheel racing.
Lotus recently announced a partnership with Cosworth to develop engines for racing based on those in its road cars. Cosworth is partially owned by Kevin Kalkhoven, the "K" in KVRT. Cosworth supplied engines exclusively for Champ Car, which was run by Kalkhoven, from the mid-2000s through the series' demise in 2008. The company also supplies the spec engine for Formula 1, which the Lotus F1 team campaigns. (It is important to note that the Lotus involved with IndyCar is the "real" Lotus, the car company itself, and not related to the F1 team that licenses its name.)
This partnership may influence the brand's participation in IndyCar in 2012. The latest rumor is that Lotus will build its own car - chassis and engine - for 2012 and beyond. Lotus, however, does not appear intent on becoming an exclusive chassis supplier to the sport, instead harkening back to the innovation of Indy 500s past, and the uniqueness of each car still seen in F1 today.
The engine, however, would likely be used by multiple teams. It would probably signal a return to the series, and the sport, for Cosworth, and perhaps use Lotus badging. KVRT would be a likely bet to run the engine for the reasons stated above; if Gerald Forsythe ever returns to the ranks of open-wheel team ownership, the other owner of Cosworth would likely use the engine too. Many of the most enduring IndyCar teams have used Cosworth engines at one point or another.
Cosworth was shut out from IndyCar in 2008 when Champ Car was bought out, and this would likely be the best way for them to return. While they did not attend more than one of IndyCar's engine spec meetings in 2008, Lotus looks to build a turbocharged V6 engine with the company - exactly the type of engine that current IndyCar supplier Honda is looking for in 2012.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Cooper: USF1 Lost Rossiter to KV
The United States' Formula 1 team, currently in a state of disarray, looks even worse with the recent release of news pertaining to the team losing a driver.
SpeedTV.com's Adam Cooper reports that James Rossiter, now destined for an IZOD IndyCar Series ride with KV Racing Technology, had signed with the team as early as December. Rossiter was committed to bringing $8 million of sponsorship with him, as the team had mandated for any drivers.
However, the $16 million that Rossiter and Argentinian Jose Maria Lopez were to bring to the team was not enough. The team's vehicle, the Type 1, still has not been launched, and thus far all that anybody has seen of it are some CGI renderings of 3D models.
Rumors have been circulating for months that the American team would not be ready in time for the start of the season, and while team sources adamantly have denied this speculation for months, the past few weeks have seen everything fall apart for the Charlotte-based organization.
Despite signing two drivers with F1 testing experience, the team could not make any guarantees to either driver about making the grid for the start of the season. Both drivers pulled out of their deals within the past month, reported Cooper. Lopez is now searching for another seat in Europe.
Ironically, Rossiter's landing place at KV reportedly has connections to another Formula 1 team. His No. 32 Marisco Liqueur Dallara-Honda reflects the livery that the Lotus F1 team ran from 1972 to 1986. Lotus recently announced that they looked to return to the Indianapolis 500 this year, and it doesn't seem a stretch that Rossiter is the driver with which they will do it.
The new, Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 team runs the Cosworth spec engine that the series put in place for this season. The Cosworth Group is led by Kevin Kalkhoven, the "K" in KV Racing Technology. Not only that, the original Lotus team (whose colors and heritage have been licensed to the new entity) was British-based, and former F1 test driver Rossiter was born in Oxford.
SpeedTV.com's Adam Cooper reports that James Rossiter, now destined for an IZOD IndyCar Series ride with KV Racing Technology, had signed with the team as early as December. Rossiter was committed to bringing $8 million of sponsorship with him, as the team had mandated for any drivers.
However, the $16 million that Rossiter and Argentinian Jose Maria Lopez were to bring to the team was not enough. The team's vehicle, the Type 1, still has not been launched, and thus far all that anybody has seen of it are some CGI renderings of 3D models.
Rumors have been circulating for months that the American team would not be ready in time for the start of the season, and while team sources adamantly have denied this speculation for months, the past few weeks have seen everything fall apart for the Charlotte-based organization.
Despite signing two drivers with F1 testing experience, the team could not make any guarantees to either driver about making the grid for the start of the season. Both drivers pulled out of their deals within the past month, reported Cooper. Lopez is now searching for another seat in Europe.
Ironically, Rossiter's landing place at KV reportedly has connections to another Formula 1 team. His No. 32 Marisco Liqueur Dallara-Honda reflects the livery that the Lotus F1 team ran from 1972 to 1986. Lotus recently announced that they looked to return to the Indianapolis 500 this year, and it doesn't seem a stretch that Rossiter is the driver with which they will do it.
The new, Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 team runs the Cosworth spec engine that the series put in place for this season. The Cosworth Group is led by Kevin Kalkhoven, the "K" in KV Racing Technology. Not only that, the original Lotus team (whose colors and heritage have been licensed to the new entity) was British-based, and former F1 test driver Rossiter was born in Oxford.
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