Danica Patrick interested in F1 test run

IndyCar race winner Danica Patrick has set her sights on a Formula One test, with Honda Racing confirming they would be interested in running the Andretti-Green Racing driver.

Patrick’s maiden victory at Motegi has prompted fresh speculation about her future, with Honda being an obvious candidate to consider her because the Japanese manufacturer supply her engines.
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History is Made: Danica Patrick Wins Indy 300 of Japan

MOTEGI, Japan - Since exploding into the consciousness of an international audience at the 2005 Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick has answered incessant questions of when she would win an IndyCar Series race.

Next question, please.

Patrick, competing in her 50th IndyCar Series race, became the first female to win a major auto racing event on a closed-course circuit. The designation is because Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany won the Paris to Dakar Rally in 2001.
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Danica Patrick Says She Has No Hard Feelings Toward Wheldon

ST. PETERSBURG - She grabbed his arm and spoke tersely. He said she was acting like “a spoiled brat.” They eventually talked and made peace.

Danica Patrick and St. Petersburg’s Dan Wheldon, who will race in today’s Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (2:45 p.m., ESPN), say their highly publicized spat after June’s Milwaukee race is behind them.

But is it?

In an offbeat Q&A that accompanied her Sports Illustrated swimsuit photos in February, Patrick playfully named Wheldon as one of two drivers in the Indy Racing League who might wear makeup.
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MILKA DUNO’S STRONG PERFORMANCE CUT SHORT DUE TO INCIDENT AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY

Miami (March 30, 2008) - Milka Duno, IndyCar Series driver with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, finished early in the lap 125 of 200 at the IndyCar Series season kickoff GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, March 29.

She was forced to exit as a result of an incident caused by the car #34 driven by Franck Perera of Conquest Racing. [Read more]

Danica Patrick Criticizes new IRL Weight Rule

An Indy Racing League rule change has Danica Patrick feeling as if she’ll be penalized for being petite — which the popular driver said wouldn’t happen in other sports.

Starting this season, the minimum weight for IRL cars will include the driver, and Patrick is the series’ lightest at 100 pounds according to the 2007 media guide (which lists other female drivers Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher at 120 pounds apiece; Ed Carpenter is the heaviest at 165).

“If someone’s going to take the hit it’s going to be me,” Patrick said Thursday. “It’s disappointing the league decided to do that. In so many other sports, athletes don’t get penalized for being too strong, or too tall or too fast.

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Fisher takes new path to racing again

HOMESTEAD — Lyn St. James nailed it. “I have 23 young female drivers coming to Indianapolis for driver development, from the ages of about 11 to 20, and I know they are going be asking me about Sports Illustrated or about Danica (Patrick) and they’re asking me, ‘Do I have to do this (pose for SI’s Swimsuit Issue) to get (noticed)?’ ” she said Wednesday.”I said, ‘No. What you have to find out at a very early age is who you are and be authentic.’ “St. James, as accomplished as any woman who ever raced, earning creed in open-wheel and sports cars, was in Homestead lending support to IndyCar Series driver Sarah Fisher, who launched Sarah Fisher Racing. And no gathering of racers these days, male or female, can exist for very long without the subject of Patrick’s Swimsuit Issue exposure and her overall approach to marketing herself that included edgy photos in FHM magazine in 2003 being broached.

That’s life. Any driver, male or female, who chooses to use his or her body as a marketing tool, is going to experience their motives being subjected to public cross-examination. And that Patrick, who is undoubtedly attractive but also winless in her three IndyCar seasons, is beginning to draw comparisons to Anna Kournikova, who never won a tennis singles title but graced many pages in magazines in various stages of undress.

But just because Patrick wants to market herself as a woman and a racer doesn’t mean everyone has to, St. James said.

She then drew a parallel with Janet Guthrie, a pioneering racer who competed in open-wheel, NASCAR and sports cars, and was the first woman to race in the Daytona and Indianapolis 500s, both in 1977.

“Janet and I are as different as night and day,” St. James said. “She’s smart, very analytical, and I’m very spontaneous. … We’ve got to allow that same difference to exist with all the women coming up.”

And that difference was obvious around Fisher’s announcement, even though Patrick, suffering from the flu, did not make a public appearance.

Fisher debuted in IndyCar in 1999 after a successful career in go-karts, the bare-knuckle environment of sprints and the World of Outlaws. And despite becoming the first woman in North America to start on the pole in a major-league Indy car race (Kentucky, 2002) and placing second at Homestead (2001), she never landed a ride in top-flight equipment and struggled. She made only three series starts from 2004-06 before running full time in 2007 for second-tier Dreyer&Reinbold Racing.

Patrick also came up through karts and paid her dues in the European Formula circuits before running in the Toyota Atlantic Series. That stint led to her first IndyCar Series ride, with Rahal Letterman Racing, in 2005. Patrick got her current ride with Andretti Green last season.

While Patrick’s path was smoothed by her parents being able to support her financially early in her career, there’s no doubt she belongs where she is. But then again, Fisher can also drive. It’s just that she has decided to go out on her own, figuring it was the best way for her to get herself back behind the wheel and in a position to excel.

Guthrie put it all into perspective. “Sarah didn’t have that kind of background,” she said of Patrick’s formative racing years. “But she’s got her feet on the ground, she’s got that passion and I’m really, really hopeful that this will work out well for her.”

[Source]

Sarah Fisher Plans Own Indycar Team

Feb 28, 2008

Indianapolis, IN – Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) announced today the formation of an IndyCar Series team that will compete in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 along with select events on the 2008 IndyCar Series schedule with a full-time debut planned for 2009. Sarah Fisher will wheel the No. 67 Honda powered Dallara. Fisher made the announcement at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the IndyCar Series spring training sessions, alongside fellow female pioneers, Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James.

After reviewing a handful of options for the 2008 racing season, starting my own team was the best opportunity for the partners we had moving forward and really is the next step for me and my career, says Fisher, President of SFR. This is something we strategically prepared to take on by consulting many different people in the motorsport realm—we didn‘t wake up one day and decide we were going to start a race team. Everyone we spoke with was very positive and felt if we could get it put together, it would be an amazing feat. It‘s hasn‘t been an overnight accomplishment, but it was certainly the next step for me and Andy [O‘Gara], my husband, as a couple. For my age and what we want to do in the future, this was our next step. The 27-year-old Fisher, who was awarded the 2001, 2002 and 2003 IndyCar Series ‘Most Popular Driver’ award and the 2005 NASCAR West Regional Series ‘Most Popular Driver’ award, continues on in the newly unified IndyCar Series with 67 IndyCar Series races under her belt. During her IndyCar Series career thus far, Fisher became the youngest women to race in the Indianapolis 500, became the first woman to capture the pole position and is the fastest female qualifier for the Indianapolis 500, in the 91 year history of the event.

As a driver, you don‘t have as many responsibilities as a team owner, continued Fisher. With more responsibility comes added pressure and as Billie Jean King once said, ‘pressure is a privilege’. It‘s interesting to take on a different project and be able to have our own direction and responsibility. We have surrounded ourselves with the right people that believe in us and this vision. It‘s fulfilling to guide the people you believe in. Being the driver for the team is something that is only appropriate as that is what started all of this. I‘ve always been a woman driver but being a female owner of a business is a big step. The only difference I can really think of is that in my company, the toilet seat will be left down. Guthrie broke the gender barrier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in 1976, St. James followed in 1996 and Fisher took the torch in 2000.

In 2008 Fisher continues Guthrie‘s pioneering vision by taking a team ownership role in addition to her driving duties. For Janet, being the first female owner/driver at the Indy 500 only gives me more motivation and confidence, says Fisher, who lists Guthrie as one of her heroes. Back in 1976 when she owned her team, she wasn‘t even allowed to use the restroom in the paddock. To follow in her shoes is really inspiring and if she could do it back then, we should be able to do it in 2008. Some of Fisher‘s biggest fans made the trip to Miami to help break the news, Guthrie and St. James.It is the greatest good news that Sarah has been able to form her own team, said Guthrie, who first met Fisher in May of 2002 at the IMS. She is an extremely talented driver, and this new opportunity is just the break that she has needed. Having run my own team at the Indianapolis 500 in 1978, when I scored my best finish there, I know what a huge and difficult challenge it is, and I‘m sure that she will be up to it. Sarah has the talent and the ferocious desire that is necessary for success, and this is her best opportunity yet. “I met Sarah when she attended our driver development program in 1996 and it was evident that she was a future star, said St. James, who last competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 2000. She was intense, committed, and determined to win then and those qualities have only deepened with her maturity. Racing requires many elements to be successful, and having a team of people around you who are completely committed to your success is one of the most important. Even though the competition in the IndyCar Series is fierce I think with Sarah’s experience and now her own team she will have the ability to shine like never before.”

[Source]

Q & A with Danica Patrick

 

02/20/2008 - 09:22 AM

Indianapolis, Ind.

 

Danica Patrick: ready to get back to work. (LAT photo)

Highlights of a media teleconference with Andretti Green Racing IndyCar driver Danica Patrick. Q: Dario Franchitti said at Daytona that he expects you’re going to win your first race this season. Secondly, on the [Sports Illustrated] swimsuit issue, do you expect to get any criticism on that?

DANICA PATRICK: As far as your first question, sounded more like a statement, didn’t it? Dario (Franchitti) is a great guy. I guess I never thought in my career I’d be toe-to-toe with him at any point and earn those kinds of respectful and honoring words from a guy like Dario Franchitti. He’s a great friend and a great guy. I think that I’ll hope that his words are more of a statement than a question or anything.

Then as far as your other question about the swimsuit issue, you know, I think, I guess I would ask, are you criticizing it or have you heard about anything? Because, to me, the swimsuit issue is beautiful. It’s women looking beautiful. They do a tasteful job.

I am one of a long line of celebrities that have been in that magazine. You know, it’s the biggest issue of the year for magazines. So I am completely honored to be in it. I had a great time. Everybody was very respectful and did a great job of putting together that magazine. I think it’s one of the best swimsuit issues I’ve ever seen. So it was beautiful.

Q: I agree with you that the SI thing looks great. And I have to admit I laughed pretty hard at the GoDaddy commercials.

DP: Good. It was meant to make people laugh.

Q: Well, good. It succeeded with me, anyway. But it was pretty edgy. What’s the line? What would you not do and where is the line between sort of promotion and distraction?

DP: Well, I think that the line for me is my line of how I feel. If I get into a situation that I feel uncomfortable in, if you get that gut feeling of, ‘Yeah, this isn’t right,’ or you feel self-conscious or embarrassed, that’s where I draw the line. So I would never do anything that I feel uncomfortable in.

I’ve had situations where if a photo, somebody wants to take a photo a certain way, I’ll say, ‘Look, I’m not real happy with this idea. But, take a Polaroid. Let me look at it and see what I think.’ Then I can look for myself to see what it looks like as well. So I take very many precautions to make sure that I feel comfortable in every situation, and then I can never really be embarrassed.

It doesn’t matter what people say. I’ve respected my own line. I haven’t crossed it. So, for me, I think that swimsuit issue is probably, obviously, about as far as I’d go with as little clothes. But I have a hard time with never saying never, because I think that that can come to bite you later on. But let’s just say I’m pretty happy with that line right there.

Q: Do you see a correlation between the fact that the [IndyCar] series has lost two champions and two Indy 500 winners, and the fact that all the promotion lately is about a guy who dances and a girl who wears a swimsuit?

DP: No, those are great things. Let’s take Helio [Castroneves] for instance. A lot of people do that show. Twenty million people watch it, which is great. And the things that I’ve done, 97 million people watched the Super Bowl. And the swimsuit issue sells more copies than any other issue of the year. So I think those are amazing things for the Indy Racing League to have as far as marketing tools and personalities.

I’ve always known that the IndyCar Series has great potential for personalities and interests within the media. So I think it’s just great that it’s showing now. You know, I think it’s great for everybody.

 

Now in her second season with Andretti Green, Patrick is confident of building on momentum. (LAT photo)

Q: What is your take on these open-wheel reunification talks and how it could affect your racing? DP: Well, I would imagine I’m probably speaking for many people when we say it’s about time. You know, it’s been a tough process for everybody. It’s been disappointing for a lot of people. I think it’s distracted and taken away a lot of good sponsors that were discouraged by the split. So I hope this is like a new birth of sponsorship and interests.

I’ve always said that fans need something easy. Fans need something simple that’s easy to understand. When you try to explain it – which, trust me, I barely understood it, initially, about the two series and everything – it’s crap. It makes it difficult. So this is going to make everything so much easier.

We’re going to get great races put together. We’re going to have all the best events put into one series, and more drivers, and that always makes for more passing, more excitement, more interest. So it’s a win, win, win, win situation.

Q: Besides the swimsuit issue and your business and the Super Bowl ads, did you do anything fun during the break? Did you get any vacation time?

DP: I did go on vacation, actually. My husband and myself and another couple, we took a trip back to Fiji. We went there for our honeymoon, so we went back there to a different place. We had met a couple of really nice people at a charity event that let us stay at their house. So not an all-bad situation. So we had a nice time.

We’ve been fairly busy. We’ve had sort of probably two different times during the off-season where we’ve had maybe a week to 10 days of pretty slow. But that’s nice. It helps you get refreshed and get energized and want to get back to work. Because, you know, there’s nothing worse than waking up and not having anything to do and no reason for the day. It’s like, ‘Oh, I guess I’ll work out today for four hours because I’ve got nothing else to do.’ So, yep, we had a good time.

Q: With the season coming up, are there any particular goals you’ve set for yourself?

DP: I’m consistent on this one. I don’t set any goals that I have to achieve or do, and I guess if I had to say one it would be win. But I’m not very much different than every other driver out there and that is their goal as well. Then follow that up by, win with the words ‘as many times as you can.’ I wouldn’t think I’m much different than any other driver out there.

Q: With the second season with Andretti Green, do you feel a lot more comfortable with the team now since you’ve been through it once before?

DP: I do. This is the most excited I’ve been going into a season, the most comfortable I’ve felt. This year I feel like excitement is sort of maybe number one to nervousness. Where normally every other year I was more nervous than anything. So I’m really excited about it.

I feel confident as a driver. I feel like I’ve really come into my own and feel like I’m able to really push those limits to where I need to be. And I’m just really excited.

 

Danica and Marco Andretti figure to be carrying the torch for American drivers’ win chances this year. (LAT photo)

Q: With Sam Hornish leaving the series this year that, leaves you and Marco [Andretti] as the most significant American drivers of substance. Does that add any pressure to you this year? DP: No, no, I didn’t even know that until you mentioned it. I think we have so many. I guess it’s hard for me to really look at it like American drivers, because there’s a bunch of us. I guess if there were only a couple you’d feel that pressure, excitement to be kind of someone that the home team would cheer for, hopefully.

But not really, you know. I think for me I look at every competitor as being one in their own – a competitor in the IndyCar Series, regardless of their background and where they’re from. I guess you kind of forget all the accents after a while. So, no, I don’t feel anything for that.

Q: With the talks on unification, do you feel all the drivers are eager for that to finally happen? Do you think it would be a smooth process?

DP: I would think all the drivers and probably the owners and the series owners are probably excited. I think there’s been a long string of years that have been financial burdens, probably, for those who own the series and trying to keep them going.

So will it be an easy transition? Absolutely not. It’s going to be probably difficult, it’s probably going to be a little messy. Probably going to be a little bit of that transition of what is going where? Who is doing what? What are the new rules?

But from my standpoint, I think that the IndyCar Series has kind of prevailed as the successful series that’s really made a difference and really come through and brought the fans out.

I think that probably most people recognize that. So I don’t see a lot of things changing as far as the people that are in the IndyCar Series and the people that exist there.

So it will probably be tougher for the drivers and teams coming over from the other series just because it’s going to be, you know, they’re going to be walking into our series. But I think it’s the best thing that we can possibly do.

I think there are so many people that believe it’s long overdue. I’m one of them. I’ve been working really hard since I came to the IndyCar Series to make it bigger, better than ever. And this is one of the things that I had always hoped that would happen so I’m glad to be a part of it.

 

Danica’s connection with the fans is readily apparent, but she’d like to see the series reach out to a wider potential audience. (LAT photo)

Q: To kind of build upon the merger talk, when you combine that with some of the things you’re doing in the off-season such as the Super Bowl ads, SI swimsuit issue, Castroneves with the dancing, how can the IRL turn all these things and create positive momentum and bring out a larger fan base in 2008? DP: I’m probably not exactly the right person to ask. But I have my own ideas so I’ll give you those. I think that in this, where we’re at right now, we’re kind of at a pivotal stage where we can really make it big and we can really push ourselves out there.

I kind of have a theory that it takes money to make money. I wish there would be more ads. I want to see more commercials. I want to know when our races are on TV because I’m watching the shows that I watch on TV, and I don’t see that. So you watch TV and you see advertisements for every other sporting event, every other big sporting event 10 times during a program. I think that we need that. I think that we need mainstream exposure.

The race fans that are going to watch are going to watch. We need to make sure we reach out to all of those people that are watching House or Desperate Housewives or something. We need to really push and come up with some clever commercials that display some personality and funny is always funny. Funny is always good.

That’s what I’d like to see happen. But I’m not the one with the checkbook, and I’m not the one calling the shots. I’m just a little driver with ideas.

Q: On your first season last year with Andretti Green Racing. Were you pleased with the year or disappointed with seventh in points?

DP: You know, I think that whenever you come to the end of the season you always think this, this, and this could have gone right and I would have been there. I had a chance in the last race to actually finish fifth in the championship. Things needed to play out right, but I was that far into the game. I was close enough in points. So fifth I would have been ecstatic for that.

Given the year and how the previous years had gone, I think that would have been great. But you know, I think that I’m very happy with how the road-course racing progressed through the year. And I think I’m going to be really strong on the ovals and excited. I feel like I’ve got a lot stored up inside me to let out, so I’m excited.

Q: How much pressure do you feel this year to get your first win? Do you feel as much as last year?

DP: You know, I just want to get it done. Is that so bad to say? I feel like there’s been times where I’ve come close. There’s been times where I’ve been maybe more preoccupied being a team player. And I think that I really feel like it’s time. It’s my time to do it. It’s overdue, and it’s going to be a big relief when it finally happens.

I think that I always put so much pressure on myself. I don’t know if anybody ever sees how mean I look at the racetrack on race weekends. But I always put tons of pressure on myself, and I’m always very serious and very focused. I’d be lying if I said that there was more or less pressure from the first year till now.

[ Source ]

Leanne Tander signs to race Formula V6 Asia in 2008

Leanne Tander will earn some serious frequent flyer miles this year after confirming today that she will drive for Opes Prime Team Meritus for the entire 2008 Formula V6 Aisa championship.

It will give Tander the chance to win two of the toughest Open Wheel series in the region in the same year, as she will dovetail her Asian racing with an attack on the Australian Formula 3 Championship with TanderSport.

Whilst neither calendar is completely confirmed, it looks likely that there will be no schedule clashes, allowing Leanne to contest both series in full.

Tander tested the Opes Prime car successfully in December last year, completing two days at Sepang (Malaysia) in her first drive of the 400hp, V6-powered cars – a step up in performance from her regular TanderSport Dallara F3 car.

In her only dry run of the two-day test Tander lapped within a second of the pole time set earlier in the year, doing enough to impress the right people to secure the full season drive.

Formula V6 Asia cars – formerly used in the World Series by Renault championship - lap at a similar pace to A1GP Cars, Matt Halliday and GP2 star Karun Chandhok having already used the category to progress their careers despite it only having been established for a short time.

In 2007 the championship featured rounds in Indonesia, China, Japan and Malaysia.

Leanne will be the first female driver to race in the growing series after setting several records in Australia in 2007, winning two races and finishing second in the Australian Formula 3 Championship.

She became the first female to win a race in the 51-year history of the Australian Drivers Championship.

Leanne will test the car further before the championship begins to ensure the Opes Prime car is competitive from the first round.

”It’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to the chance to race internationally in 2008,” Leanne enthused.

”The test itself was a great opportunity so to be able to commit for the fulls season and have a chance to race for the championship is even better, I’m very thankful to Anthony Blumberg and Opes Prime for their support.

”The team were great and have proven success as one of the top operations in Asian Motorsport. The series is growing quickly and there are already several strong drivers looking set to compete this year that will make it a very demanding championship.

”It will be a busy year,” she added. “Racing in two championships across several countries will not be easy but its every drivers dream to race as often as possible in lots of fantastic different cars, so this is a huge opportunity for my career and one I intend to take as best I possibly can.”

The Formula V6 Asia championship schedule is yet to be confirmed, whilst Leanne will next be in action between February 1 – 3 for the opening round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship with TanderSport, the team she co-owns with Australian V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander.

About Formula V6 Asia:

Formula V6 Asia is the most technologically advanced car in its category and has one objective: to train drivers, engineers, mechanics and team managers on their way up to Formula 1. The car with 370bhp, 3.5i 24 valve V6 engine with speeds reaching up to 275kph aims to increase performance while limiting costs, enhance safety and make the Formula V6 Asia as the choice series for all serious single-seater drivers in Asia.

[Source: GirlRacer.co.uk]

Pippa Mann re-signs with P1 motorsport

British racing driver Pippa Mann has re-signed with P1 Motorsport for her second year in the World Series by Renault, opting to continue her relationship with Team Director, Roly Vincini. Following an impressive debut season in the series which saw the 23 year-old score points in her first race and start from pole position in her second, Mann is set to return with the P1 squad for what promises to be her best year yet.

Speaking about her decision to stay at P1 Motorsport, Mann said: “I’m thrilled to be confirmed for my second year with P1 - they are a fantastic team and it was an absolute pleasure working with them last year. 2007 was very much a learning curve for me, and the team supported me amazingly throughout my first season in WSR 3.5. I’m looking forward to working with Roly again, as he did a fantastic job of guiding me through my debut year, and I’m happy to be continuing this partnership.”

“I’m under no illusion that it’s going to be easy, but as long as I can continue in the same way that I finished 2007, then I should be able to achieve the goals of regularly getting into the new super-pole and scoring points. There are some changes - a new car, and I have a new team mate in Giedo van der Garde, but I’m excited about everything and basically cannot wait to get back out onto the circuit!”

Although 2007 began well for Mann, the second half of the year proved difficult and challenging, with Mann struggling for consistency despite some notably strong performances. However, Mann openly documented her year as being one of learning, and worked hard and closely with Vincini and the entire team to make solid and steady progress.
Vincini commented: “I’m pleased that Pippa will be staying with P1 for 2008 - the progress she made last year was superb, especially the pace shown over the last few race weekends of 2007. We set goals at the beginning of last season and Pippa was achieving those by the end of the year, so we can expect the same of her in 2008. Expectations will of course be higher and it won’t be easy by any means, but Pippa has a lot of determination and I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to score points consistently moving forward. I think with Pippa and Giedo on board, P1 Motorsport has a strong driver line-up, and I’m looking forward to the year ahead.”

[Source: GirlRacer.co.uk]

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