Rookies run into problems in Las Vegas

UPDATE #2 Another reader writes, I'm writing in response to Preston Smith's email and your comment. It seems that the primary issues with the DP01 seem to be electrical and gearbox related which I believe are not components supplied by EMT/Panoz. That said, I think the real issue (as alluded to by Bourdais in an article I read on this or another site) is that Panoz did not push the car hard enough in development testing to discover these problems. They were being discovered in pre-season testing and unfortunately it looks like in race practice and qualifying as well. However, it is a brand new car, it is bound to have teething problems. It is still a good car, looks great, and is proving to be FAST!!!

Also, regarding additional team pre-season testing, the teams had three testing sessions and, given the budget/sponsorship issues that we have now, is it really reasonable to expect the smaller teams to show up if there had been additional sessions added? I think Conquest only showed up for one of the sessions, right? The teams still have to spend money to go to these test sessions, I doubt that KK and company would be footing the entire bill. When the new car is supposed to inject some parity into the series, additional sessions would simply benefit the big dogs i.e. NHL.

Regardless of car teething issues, sponsorship issues, driver turnaround, etc., I'm happy to see Champ Car back in action. Better Champ Car than NASCAR or IRL!!! I'll take ALMS number 2. They should be running in Vegas also. Big mistake by them running races with that other series. Thanks for the excellent website! Thanyarat (Tom) Kulananan

04/07/07 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, How come I keep reading that teams are having numerous mechanical issues with the new Champ Car? Doesn't Panoz know how to build a quality car? Preston Smith

Dear Preston, When one introduces a new car and then doesn't allow the teams much preseason testing, they don't have enough laps on the car such that these issues would have all been addressed before the season started. Now they will pay the penalty for that decision by having problems crop up during race weekends instead. Qualifying sessions and races will be ruined due to these mechanical issues and drivers and teams will complain to the media about it. Unfortunately this paints Champ Car in a negative light, but as with everything in life you pay now or you pay later. Champ Car should have allowed more preseason testing this first year of the new car. In subsequent years, after all the gremlins were worked out, preseason testing could have been cut back. Mark C.

04/07/07 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal was hoping his first qualifying session in Champ Car would go better. Mechanical glitches, which are happening far too often on the new Champ Car, kept the Atlantic series runner-up from last year 15th on the overnight grid, trailing Atlantic rival Simon Pagenaud by more than three seconds.

It was a session of problems for the Medi|Zone team," he confirmed, "At the end, I thought I had two good laps left, then we had a shifting problem. I couldn't shift up or down, and we think we had an electrical problem that led to the shifting problem. Before that, the car was acting really good and I was really pumped. I had a good out-lap and I thought it was only going to get better, but I went into turn one and the shifting problem started. It's a good thing that there are two qualifying sessions because we should definitely be up there."

Rahal was not the only rookie in trouble, as Matt Halliday and Alex Figge are not where they would like to be right now.

“Obviously, it was a rough day because we did not get much track time during qualifying," he said, "Unfortunately, we ran into a problem with the engine that they will fix tonight. We had a good start in practice this morning, so I am sure tomorrow will be a lot smoother and we will be able to improve our position."

Figge, meanwhile, out-qualified his two rookie rivals, but still only managed 14th on the overnight grid.

"It's good to have the first day in the books and have some track time under my belt here," the Pacific Coast driver commented, "I could be happier, as we ran eleventh for most of the day and I would have liked to qualified there, but we had a small issue with our first set of tires and then we ran out of time on our second stint. We've saved our Bridgestone 'reds' for tomorrow though and I am looking forward to getting back out there."