Misplaced Pages

2008 Champ Car season
Champ Car World Series
Season
Races	14
Start date	April 20
End date	November 9
Awards
← 20072009 (ICS) →

The 2008 Champ Car World Series season would have been the 5th season of the Champ Car World Series and 30th season of the series dating back to the 1979 formation of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). It was scheduled to begin on April 20, 2008, and end on November 9.

The season was canceled on February 22, 2008, because of the buyout of Champ Car by the rival IndyCar Series, resulting in the reunification of American open-wheel racing. As per the conditions of the agreement between series, Champ Car was dissolved as an entity, with IndyCar acquiring the historical records of the series as part of the "non-tangible and tangible assets of Champ Car". Some of the teams, drivers and events went on to compete in the unified series, and the remnants of the former Champ Car series filed for bankruptcy.

Background and series news

The Champ Car off-season entered 2008 with a lot of unknowns and very few announcements in regards to driver lineups. In the wake of four-time series champion Sébastien Bourdais leaving the series to drive in Formula 1, the future was uncertain for most of the field's drivers and teams. Justin Wilson, out of a seat after RuSPORT closed its doors, was eventually signed by Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing to replace Bourdais, and was considered as the early favourite for the title.

In late January, the yearly topic on a potential re-unification between Champ Car and the IndyCar Series was reignited, as it emerged that the Indy Racing League's CEO Tony George had offered free cars and free engines to the Champ Car teams, as well as the addition of five Champ Car races to the IndyCar schedule, during talks held in the fall. Shortly after, George claimed that the window of opportunity for 2008 had passed, while Champ Car owners said that a formal offer was never made.

On January 17, the television schedule for the 2008 season was announced, with ESPN as the sole partner. The deal called for four races to be broadcast on ABC on same-day tape delay with a one-hour packaged format, and four other live broadcasts on ESPN. The remaining six races were scheduled to be aired on ESPN2 on a same-day tape basis, except for the live broadcast of the Mexico season finale.

Only six drivers had been formally assigned at the time of the first Open Test at Sebring on February 2-4, with just 14 drivers taking part after Team Australia decided not to participate in it. Just a few days before being confirmed by Conquest Racing, rookie Franck Perera set the best time of the week, while Franck Montagny impressed in his testing outing with Forsythe/Pettit Racing by leading the short field in the first two days of testing. The next Open Test was due to be held in Laguna Seca on March 13-14.

The wheels of reunification were set in motion again on February 7, as Robin Miller reported that a deal had finally been reached between series on similar terms to George's previous offer. Shortly after, Tony George travelled to Japan, in an attempt to convince Honda execs to move the date of the 2008 Indy Japan 300, which had been a key point of contention in merger talks as it fell of the same April 20 date as the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This approach, however, was unsuccessful due to the different availability of dates for the different parties involved, including Kansas Speedway. Champ Car owners indicated that media leaks had led to a standstill in the negotiations, but rumblings over the series' impending bankruptcy made the rounds.

Reunification agreement between IndyCar and Champ Car

After a few days of negotiations amid new reports on a done deal, the IndyCar Series and the Champ Car World Series announced a deal to unify the two series on February 22, 2008. The new unified series was centered around IndyCar Series' existing schedule, car and engine/tires suppliers, signifying the end of the Champ Car World Series as a stand-alone series. It was also the end for the Panoz DP01 after just one year of service, and for Cosworth as an engine supplier in Indy car racing.

Under the offer of free cars and engines, six of the nine teams scheduled to compete in Champ Car were able to continue operations in the IndyCar Series, with KV Racing's Oriol Servià as the highest finisher in the standings in ninth place. While Forsythe/Pettit Racing and Rocketsports Racing declined to join the new unified series, Walker Racing announced it had been unable to gather enough sponsorship to make the switch. The decision was eventually revealed to be the result of an acrimonious end of the partnership with Team Australia, who then paired up with KV Racing. By 2017, all teams had folded with the exception of Dale Coyne Racing.

The date conflict between the Indy Japan 300 and the Grand Prix of Long Beach was dealt with a salomonic resolution, as both races would be run as scheduled. The Long Beach race was contested as a 'Champ Car finale' with teams that had been part of Champ Car in 2007, running under the Champ Car branding and using the same rules and vehicles as the previous season, but still receiving points towards IndyCar's standings. The race was won by Will Power, and the event fully became part of the IndyCar schedule in 2009.

The Grand Prix of Edmonton was added to the IndyCar Series schedule as a regular round, while the Gold Coast Indy 300 was held as a non-championship race after the season finale before being discontinued. The Toronto event was reinstated for 2009, but all other ten events on the aborted Champ Car schedule were not retained by the unified series. The races at Houston (2013), Road America (2016), Portland (2018), and Laguna Seca (2019), which was set to return to the schedule after a four year absence, were eventually revived by IndyCar, but the events at Cleveland, Mont-Tremblant, and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez have not been held anymore as of 2025, as well as the European events at Zolder, Assen and the aborted debut at Jerez.

Confirmed entries

The following teams were expected to compete for the 2008 Champ Car season. All teams would have used a Cosworth 2.65-litre turbocharged V8 engine, a Panoz DP01 chassis, and Bridgestone tires. The driver line-up represents the drivers that had been confirmed as of February 22, 2008, plus additional drivers that had taken part in the Sebring Test earlier in the month.

Team	No.	Announced driver(s)	Test driver(s)	Ref(s)
Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	1	Justin Wilson
	2	Graham Rahal
Forsythe/Pettit Racing	3	Paul Tracy
	7	TBA	Franck Montagny
Minardi Team USA	4	TBA	E. J. Viso
	14	TBA
Team Australia	5	TBA
	15	TBA
Rocketsports Racing	8	Enrique Bernoldi
Dale Coyne Racing	11	TBA	Bruno Junqueira
	19	TBA	Mario Moraes
KV Racing Technology	21	TBA	Alex Tagliani
	22	Oriol Servià
Pacific Coast Motorsports	29	Alex Figge
	96	TBA	David Martínez
Conquest Racing	24	Franck Perera
	34	TBA	Simon Pagenaud

Driver changes

• On August 10, 2007, it was announced that Sébastien Bourdais would leave Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and the Champ Car World Series in 2008 to make his Formula One debut with Scuderia Toro Rosso as a replacement for Vitantonio Liuzzi. Bourdais would later achieve his fourth consecutive championship before heading to F1.
• On January 5, 2008, KV Racing Technology announced the signing of Oriol Servià, who had raced with the team in the last two rounds of the 2007 season after moving on from Forsythe Championship Racing.
• On January 7, 2008, Paul Tracy confirmed he would remain in Forsythe/Pettit Racing after discussions over the status of his 5-year deal. Media reports had surfaced in December 2007 about Gerry Forsythe looking to renegotiate of terminate the deal.
• On January 26, 2008, Pacific Coast Motorsports confirmed Alex Figge, son of team founder Tom Figge, would continue to drive the #29 car after finishing 17th in his debut season.
• On January 28, 2008, Rocketsports Racing announced Enrique Bernoldi as their new driver for the 2008 season, replacing Alex Tagliani. Bernoldi moved from Stock Car Brasil, having previously driven in Formula One for the Arrows team in 2001 and 2002 before becoming a test driver for British American Racing and its successor Honda F1.

• On January 29, 2008, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing announced it had signed Justin Wilson, twice a runner-up in the standings driving for RuSPORT, taking the place of the departed Sébastien Bourdais. The team also confirmed the return of Graham Rahal after finishing fifth in his debut season.
• On February 6, 2008, Conquest Racing annnounced Franck Perera as its first driver for the 2008 season. Perera had finished 2nd in the Atlantic Championship and was the recipient of the $2 million advancement prize, after champion Raphael Matos elected to drive in the Indy Pro Series instead.

Team changes

• On November 5, 2007, RuSPORT announced that the team would be closed down at the end of the season after a four-year tenure in the series, leaving driver Justin Wilson without a ride. The team had recently dissolved its RSPORTS partnership with Rocketsports Racing. Shortly after, on November 26, 2007, team owner Dan Pettit announced RuSPORT would "merger" with Forsythe Championship Racing, which would run as Forsythe/Pettit Racing for the 2008 season.
• Team Australia elected to miss pre-season testing at Sebring without having made any driver-related announcement for the 2008 season. Team owner Derrick Walker declared he was considering moving the team to the IndyCar Series, due to rumours over Champ Car's potential bankruptcy and the talks between both series over the eventual merger.

Schedule

The 2008 Champ Car schedule was announced in November 5, 2007. For the second year, all Champ Car races were going to be run on road courses and street circuits.

Rnd	Race Name	Track	Location	Date
1	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	S  Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California	April 20
2	Grand Prix of Houston	S  JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park	Houston, Texas	April 27
3	Champ Car Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	R  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	May 18
4	Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit Zolder	R  Circuit Zolder	Heusden-Zolder, Belgium	June 1
5	Champ Car Grand Prix of Spain at Circuito Permanente de Jerez	R  Circuito de Jerez	Jerez de la Frontera, Spain	June 8
6	Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland	S  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	June 22
7	Champ Car Mont-Tremblant	R  Circuit Mont-Tremblant	Mont-Tremblant, Quebec	June 29
8	Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto	S  Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario	July 6
9	Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton	S  Edmonton City Centre Airport	Edmonton, Alberta	July 20
10	Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland	R  Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon	July 27
11	Road America Grand Prix	R  Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 10
12	Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland at TT Circuit Assen	R  TT Circuit Assen	Assen, Netherlands	September 14
13	Gold Coast Indy 300	S  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia	October 26
14	Gran Premio Tecate Presentado por Banamex	R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	November 9

 R  Road course
 S  Street/temporary circuit

Schedule changes

• The Champ Car Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was set to return on May 18, replacing the San Jose Grand Prix.
• The Champ Car Grand Prix of Spain was going to debut on June 8 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez in Spain, formally taking the place of the Vegas Grand Prix.

See also

• 2008 Atlantic Championship
• 2008 Indianapolis 500
• 2008 IndyCar Series
• 2008 Indy Lights season

References

1. ^ "2008 IRL IndyCar Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
2. "IndyCar Series - Unification press conference". Motorsport.com. February 27, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
3. "Champ Car Series files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". ESPN.com. March 6, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
4. "Wilson expecting a tough time". March 13, 2008. Archived from the original on January 6, 2024. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
5. "Tony George Makes an Offer for Unity". Speed Channel. January 27, 2008. Archived from the original on January 27, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
6. "Tony George's Offer to Champ Car - January 2008". The Indianapolis Star. January 28, 2008. pp. D1. Retrieved December 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Champ Car World Series To Appear On ESPN, ESPN2, ABC In 2008". champcarworldseries.com. January 17, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
8. "Franck Perera puts Conquest Racing on top at Sebring Open Test". champcarworldseries.com. February 3, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
9. Miller, Robin (February 7, 2008). "Is Open-Wheel Peace Finally at Hand?". speedtv.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
10. "Champ Car, Indy Racing League working on truce". Autoweek. February 7, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
11. "Merger Talks Awaiting Developments". speedtv.com. February 9, 2008. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
12. "Oreovicz: Champ Car bankruptcy could be part of merger". ESPN.com. February 12, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
13. "Champ Car/IndyCar Deal Done". speedtv.com. February 19, 2008. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
14. "IRL, Champ Car sign merger, ending 12-year split". ESPN.com. February 22, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
15. Oreovicz, John (February 29, 2008). "Forsythe surprise dropout as IndyCar Series starts up". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
16. "Rocketsports won't join IRL for financial reasons - February 24, 2008". Tampa Bay Times. February 24, 2008. p. 21. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
17. "Walker Racing won't be making switch to IndyCar". ESPN.com. March 9, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
18. "Walker threatens to sue co-owner Gore". Autosport. March 21, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
19. "Gore responds to Walker legal threat". www.crash.net. March 25, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
20. "IRL officially confirms unification". Autosport. February 27, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
21. ^ "Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal To Make Up Newman/Haas/Lanigan Lineup". champcarworldseries.com. January 29, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
22. ^ "Report: Tracy decides to stay in Champ Car series". ESPN.com. January 7, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
23. ^ "It's 'Open Season' On Testing". champcarworldseries.com. February 1, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
24. "Viso To Pilot Minardi Team USA Entry At Sebring Test". Motorsport.com. February 1, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
25. "Doornbos gives Minardi an ultimatum". OpenWheelWorld (in Dutch). February 6, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
26. ^ "Champ Car team owner believes series is over". ESPN.com. February 13, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
27. ^ "Rocketsports Signs Former F1 Driver". champcarworldseries.com. January 28, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
28. "PKV Racing to test Tagliani". Motorsport.com. January 22, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
29. ^ "Oriol Servià Signs With PKV". champcarworldseries.com. January 5, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
30. ^ "PCM Prepares for Sebring with Alex Figge and David Martinez". Motorsport.com. January 27, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
31. ^ "Conquest Racing Confirms Atlantic's 'Fearless' Franck Perera For 2008 Champ Car World Series Season". champcarworldseries.com. February 6, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
32. "Simon Pagenaud, Franck Perera to Test for Conquest at Sebring". Motorsport.com. February 1, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
33. Collantine, Keith (August 10, 2007). "Bourdais replaces Liuzzi for 2008". RaceFans. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
34. "Gordon Kirby - The Way It Is:". www.gordonkirby.com. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
35. Miller, Robin (December 9, 2007). "Tracy Told to Renegotiate Contract". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
36. "RuSport team closing". Autoweek. November 5, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
37. "Forsythe, RuSport teams merge for 2008". Autoweek. November 26, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2024.

• Champ Car seasons
• 2008 in American motorsport
• 2008 in Champ Car
• Cancelled motorsport events
• 2008 in formula racing