JasonD
13th March 2008, 01:12
Wiggins Yes, Minardi No Written by: Robin Miller
03/12/2008 - 12:12 PM
Indianapolis, Ind.
Paul Stoddart and the Minardi name won’t be around in 2008 but the core group of that team will be competing in the Indy Racing League.
Operating under his old HVM Racing moniker, Keith Wiggins has a veteran crew, a car, a potential driver/sponsor and plenty of experience in survival.
“Paul told me a few days ago he wouldn’t be involved and to shut everything down but we’ve got a lot of good people and I decided to keep this thing going,” said Wiggins, who ran the Minardi Team USA program in ’07 for Stoddart and Robert Doornbos.
“We got a car yesterday and I don’t know if we can make next week’s test at Sebring but our plan is for HVM to go forward on its own and run the full IRL schedule.”
Stoddart told Autosport he didn’t think any of the Champ Car teams could be competitive until 2010 when the new IRL cars arrived and that, personally, “I did enough tugging around at the back in F1 and I don’t want to do it again. I had a taste of victory last year and it was nice, so I’ll just sit back and take a sabbatical.”
Doornbos scored a pair of wins and finished third in the Champ Car standings in 2007 for Stoddart but won’t be back with his former crew in ’08.
Wiggins has been in negotiations with Venuezuela’s Ernesto Viso, whom he twice tested in a Champ Car. “He’s very quick and he’s got a sponsor so we’re trying to get everything nailed down,” he said. “We’ve still got Michael Cannon (engineer), Vince Kremer, Darryl Fox, Kevin Lee, Bob Hatch and 26 total people. We had to let a couple go because right now we’re only planning to run one car.”
Scrambling and surviving is nothing new for Wiggins. He owned and operated winning formula teams in Europe before launching his own Formula 1 (Pacific Grand Prix) team in 1994. He came to America in 2000 and brokered the deal to have Herdez take over the late Tony Bettenhausen’s team.
In 2001, the 50-year-old London native renamed the team HVM Racing and it ran competitive until Herdez dropped out at the end of 2004. Champ Car co-owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe assumed 50-percent ownership of the team until recently when CC filed for bankruptcy.
“Every day was a struggle in F1 and this has been challenging as well,” said Wiggins. “But, as I said, it’s too good a group not to carry on.”
Sucks that Minardi is out, which we already heard earlier but with HVM/Wiggin in things are looking good.
03/12/2008 - 12:12 PM
Indianapolis, Ind.
Paul Stoddart and the Minardi name won’t be around in 2008 but the core group of that team will be competing in the Indy Racing League.
Operating under his old HVM Racing moniker, Keith Wiggins has a veteran crew, a car, a potential driver/sponsor and plenty of experience in survival.
“Paul told me a few days ago he wouldn’t be involved and to shut everything down but we’ve got a lot of good people and I decided to keep this thing going,” said Wiggins, who ran the Minardi Team USA program in ’07 for Stoddart and Robert Doornbos.
“We got a car yesterday and I don’t know if we can make next week’s test at Sebring but our plan is for HVM to go forward on its own and run the full IRL schedule.”
Stoddart told Autosport he didn’t think any of the Champ Car teams could be competitive until 2010 when the new IRL cars arrived and that, personally, “I did enough tugging around at the back in F1 and I don’t want to do it again. I had a taste of victory last year and it was nice, so I’ll just sit back and take a sabbatical.”
Doornbos scored a pair of wins and finished third in the Champ Car standings in 2007 for Stoddart but won’t be back with his former crew in ’08.
Wiggins has been in negotiations with Venuezuela’s Ernesto Viso, whom he twice tested in a Champ Car. “He’s very quick and he’s got a sponsor so we’re trying to get everything nailed down,” he said. “We’ve still got Michael Cannon (engineer), Vince Kremer, Darryl Fox, Kevin Lee, Bob Hatch and 26 total people. We had to let a couple go because right now we’re only planning to run one car.”
Scrambling and surviving is nothing new for Wiggins. He owned and operated winning formula teams in Europe before launching his own Formula 1 (Pacific Grand Prix) team in 1994. He came to America in 2000 and brokered the deal to have Herdez take over the late Tony Bettenhausen’s team.
In 2001, the 50-year-old London native renamed the team HVM Racing and it ran competitive until Herdez dropped out at the end of 2004. Champ Car co-owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe assumed 50-percent ownership of the team until recently when CC filed for bankruptcy.
“Every day was a struggle in F1 and this has been challenging as well,” said Wiggins. “But, as I said, it’s too good a group not to carry on.”
Sucks that Minardi is out, which we already heard earlier but with HVM/Wiggin in things are looking good.