[IRL/FIL] 2008 Season

#631

Bottom post of the previous page:

Milka Duno led more laps than Danica Patrick this season. The definition of awesomeness.

OSNOF · #632

That is brilliant.

PTfan54 · #633

Heh...Especially funny considering the earful that Danica gave Milka at Mid-Ohio.

Chocmonster · #634

Cheeveer wrote:Milka Duno led more laps than Danica Patrick this season. The definition of awesomeness.

Oh poor Danica!

Andy · #635

HC wrote:Hey Emma, welcome To The Fastlane!

I'm Pim from the MotorsTV forum.

While we are at it , I am Andy at MotorsTV forum too

Chocmonster · #636

Hello Andy, thanks to all of you for the warm welcome!

jpalesi · #637

Welcome !

I am starting to think that Helio lost the title the same way as Dixon last year. Of course not on the last race, but when he ran out of fuel on the last lap (at Kentucky ?).

If Helio had won that race, wouldn't be awesome if the title was decided on a photo finish ?

Oh, I should stop dreaming

kals · #638

Helio also lost the win to Danica at Motegi because of fuel as well. I remember his interview after the race, he said he was conserving fuel and didn't realise he was actually racing Danica. He thought she was a lap down on him.

HC · #639

Apparently Robert Doornbos will go to HVM. Lets hope they will expand to a two car team because it would be shame to see E.J. go. He's become pretty popular and his results surely back this up.

Robert will get the backing off Michel Perridon and his company Trust. Perridon became a 50% owner of Team Arden in GP2, hoping to get Dutch talent into the feeder series. But halfway through the season Yelmer Buurman was fired and replaced with Luca Filippi (Honda money). That's not what Trust wanted, so they will stop their GP2 activities and instead support Doornbos' adventure in America.

OSNOF · #640

I think HVM are expanding to two cars- E.J. is bringing his own money to the team.

Really hope someone picks Meira up.

Cynon · #641

kals wrote:Helio also lost the win to Danica at Motegi because of fuel as well. I remember his interview after the race, he said he was conserving fuel and didn't realise he was actually racing Danica. He thought she was a lap down on him.

In his interview during the Long Beach race, he said that had he pushed harder to race with her, he would have run out earlier and finished even lower than he did.

There's a lot of teams we haven't heard from. KV Racing, apparently Forsythe wants in now...

Chocmonster · #642

Cynon wrote:There's a lot of teams we haven't heard from. KV Racing, apparently Forsythe wants in now...

According to this week's Autosport magazine KV are worried that with the Austrialian race not being on the schedule next season then their sponsor Aussie Vineyards won't hang around.

Cynon · #643

I thought Surfer's has a good chance of getting on the schedule.

HC · #644

Cynon wrote:I thought Surfer's has a good chance of getting on the schedule.

Its not on the provisional 2009 schedule.

kals · #645

Good to read that Vitor Meira will still be in Indycars throughout 2009. Manning hasn't done much to deserve his seat for another season.

Autosport.com wrote:Meira replaces Manning at Foyt

By Steven English Thursday, September 25th 2008, 16:10 GMT

IndyCar veteran Vitor Meira has joined AJ Foyt Enterprises in place of Briton Darren Manning.

Meira, who contested this season with Panther Racing and finished 13th in the championship, will make his debut with the team at the non-championship Surfer's Paradise event on October 26 and has also signed for the 2009 season.

"I'm definitely going into 2009 with a little extra motivation," said Meira. "I've raced against the team for many years and have heard cool things about them. Many people would give an arm and a leg just to meet A.J. and I'm getting to work with him, I think that says it all.

"The first race, we'll get situated with each other and learn where we're at. Then we can know where we need to improve. My goal is to come out and win. I've finished second many times but there were races where I finished fourth or fifth and felt good about them because we got the most out of the car that day.

"If we are getting top fives, it's because we're putting ourselves in a position to win, which is what you have to do. Then the wins will come."

A.J. Foyt is pleased to have Meira on board and has long been an admirer of the Brazilian.

"He's a hard racer who charges all day long," said Foyt. "He should have won a lot of races but he hasn't had the best luck. I believe we can change that and I'm looking forward to working with him."

Foyt also praised Manning's contribution to the team but felt they needed to make a driver change.

"I appreciate everything Darren did with our team," said Foyt. "Towards the end, I felt like things had come to a standstill and we weren't getting the best out of each other.

"It was time for a change and I was the one who needed to make the change, as hard as it was."

Manning, meanwhile, agrees that his split with the team is amicable but is not yet sure where he will race next.

"There are no hard feelings, getting me on board was part of making his team better and I think we did that," said the Briton. "I wish him well."

In other news it has been confirmed that Dario will race for Ganassi at Surfers, whilst Wheldon will be with Panther for that event.

aewallace81 · #646

I was hoping Meira might get a better drive than that. Good news about the Ganassi switch, that should help Dario adapt back for next year.