Overheard in Sebring – 2
02/02/08 We are hearing that Conquest Racing will soon announce two new primary sponsors, one for each car, and their two drivers will be Simon Pagenaud and Franck Perera. The Conquest team will be testing a third French driver, but for their Atlantic team. Sebastien Chardonnet will test here at Sebring Tuesday and Wednesday. He raced Formula Renault in 2007.
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| Franck Montagny |
Franck Montagny looks pretty definite at Forsythe Pettit Racing alongside Paul Tracy. We spoke to Montagny who said, "It looks pretty good that I will be racing here this year. I am tired of being a test driver. I want my name on the side of the car, I want to race and I want to win. I don't care if I never go back to F1. I am very impressed with this team. The shop is very good and everyone is very professional."
On a related note/rumor, we hear that Montagny may also drive in this year's 24 Hours of LeMans for the French Peugeot team. Look for an announcement soon.
Mario Moraes is looking pretty good at Dale Coyne with a full year of sponsorship and we hear if a race materializes in Sao Paulo (good possibility for 2009 we hear) that will help his sponsorship. He tells us that Champ Cars are a big step up from British F3 last year, but he is ready for it."
We caught up with Dan Clarke who is still hopeful of putting together a deal for 2008. He was seen lunching with his team boss from last year, Keith Wiggins. Robert Doornbos is not yet signed, but we hear it is likely to happen.
We spoke to Graham Rahal who said, "My goal this year is to win races and challenge for the championship. I'm happy to have Justin [Wilson] as my teammate. I'm no longer the tallest or the heaviest driver on the team, which is a disadvantage for sure. We need to be more consistent than we were last year." Asked if he might run the Indy 500 this year for his father's team he said, "That all comes down to sponsorship, but I would like to if the opportunity presents itself." Mark C. reporting from Sebring