USGP Support Races

he lost his head just like JPM, finished sixth from being in the lead on the last lap!!!!

 

formula bmw, porsche cup race... they did one race on sat and one on sunday. there was no challenge race, there wasnt one last sep. either. kinda sucks, i would like to see that com back. as for jpm's brother, i think he came close to winning, it was him and another young gun going after it.

 

Perhaps the reason there was no Ferrari 360 Challenge race is because the Challenge race was held at Montreal on the weekend before, AND there is another Challenge race this weekend in Tremblant, Quebec. Moving everything to Indianapolis for the intervening weekend would probably be problematic, not to mention that the drivers are (nominally at least) amateurs who may not be able to go racing three weekends in a row (and again two weeks later at Lime Rock, CT).

Just a thought.

vty,

--Dennis

 

Actually it was Tony George. He axed the race !

He never liked the Challenge series running at Indy because he thought it was an amateur event. Ferrari put pressure on him to host the event but this year he decided to double the entrance fee to FNA to get rid of the Challenge race and it worked.

He has publically stated a few times that he only wants professional quality racing at Indy GP weekend.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracing.net

 

The Challenge stopped for the above reason two or is it three years ago. For sure they where not there in 2003 and I do not remember taking any photos in 2002 there.

 

Support races for the USGP are the decision of FOM (Formula One Management), not the track. The Ferrari Challenge as a support race was an issue of costs, and driver preference for Montreal/Canadian GP over Indianapolis and the USGP. Tony George may or may not have preferred to have it at the IMS (and frankly I doubt some of the statements attributed to him) but in the end it wasn't his decision.

 

True it was not TG's decision it was FNA's.

 

From the Challenge driver's point of view, I'd wager a guess that they would prefer to race in Montreal over Indianapolis - after all, the partying in Montreal is about 10x better than Indiana.

Also, from a logistics point of view, the Ferrari Festival in Tremblant has been on the schedule for a long time, and having another Challenge race only 80 miles away two weeks before is a whole lot easier than having one 1000 miles away only one week before.

As for what IMS may or may not have wanted, didn't they have a Porsche Cup race? I know they have had that in years before. Better quality drivers, certainly, and fun to watch, but it's not a "professional-only" series either.

vty,

--Dennis

 

Well said!

 

I remember the first year of the USGP at Indy they had a Ferrari Challenge and a Porsche Club support race. It was embarassing to see how much quicker the Porsche Club lap times were than the lap times of the Ferrari Challenge cars! Porsches at less than 1/2 of the Ferraris were so much faster.

 

Yeah, but they looked and sounded so cool:

 

Well, to be fair, the Ferrari Challenge consists of "amateur" (more or less) drivers driving "their own" cars. There are a few really good drivers in it, and the rest of the field consists of rich guys (and a couple of women) who are just out to have a good time. Big dustups occur with some regularity.

The Carrera Cup race, OTOH, is *not* Porsche Club racing. Rather, it is a one-make racing series run by Porsche Motorsports, that uses the same cars (like the 360 Challenge) but driven by pro and semi-pro drivers as well as the rich guys driving their own cars.

Overall, the quality of the drivers are probably more experienced in the Carrera Cup. And the cars are slightly faster too.

vty,

--Dennis

 

...and the series is owned by Formula One Management (Bernie Ecclestone) which is why it is the support race for so many Grands Prix both here and in Europe.