March
2002
Herbert
"on pole" for ALMS title
Autosport,
21st March: Johnny Herbert's victory in the American Le
Mans Series opener at Sebring has made him clear favourite for
title honours.
The
three-time GP winner triumphed in the Sebring 12 Hours with
the factory Joest Audi squad, but he is swapping to the Champion
Audi team for the remainder of the series. A good result with
team-mate Andy Wallace at Sears Point in may, which Joest are
scheduled to miss, would give him a massive points advantage.
Victory
at Sears, round two of the championship, with the addition of
the two bonus points on offer, would put Herbert 26 points clear
of Dindo Capello, one of his team-mates at Sebring, and at least
40 ahead of Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen,
who finished fifth at the weekend. With a points system that
rewards consistency rather than wins, and all 10 rounds to count,
that is a significant deficit to overcome.
Champion
boss Dave Maraj said at Sebring:
"The
bad news for us today was that Champion Racing finished second;
the good news is that as long as we can keep finishing on
the podium it is going to take the factory a long time to
catch Johnny in the points, even if they win every race.
Herbert
described the win with Capello and Christian Pescatori as one
of the biggest of his career.
"It
was great to be able to win three grands prix, but this is
one of the big sportscar races, along with Le Mans and Daytona,
so it is nice to get a victory under my belt."
Roy
Craig's letter in Autosport
Autosport,
21st March: Roy Craig, Fan Club karting event organiser,
had this letter printed in this week's Autosport:
"How
happy I am for Johnny Herbert to be where he deserves once
again - on the top step of the podium after winning the Sebring
12 Hours.
"How
different from his old F1 team-mate Eddie Irvine, who could
only qualify at the back of the grid at Malaysia with the
still useless Jaguar. I am glad to be watching Johnny in a
competitive car rather than him being at the pinnacle of motor
racing with no hope of a win.
Roll
on the Indy 500 when Johnny may be back in a single-seater
with the chance of a result."
Roy
Craig
Indy
500 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing?
ESPN,
15th March: AVONDALE, Ariz. Johnny Herbert, a former Formula
One driver who has strong ties with Tom Walkinshaw Racing, is
under consideration for a ride in the Indianapolis 500 with
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
Team
owner Dennis Reinbold confirmed Saturday at Phoenix International
Raceway that the current sports car driver is a leading candidate
to drive an Infiniti-powered G Force for the IRL team that also
features Robbie Buhl.
"He
is high on our list because he's a driver that comes with
a lot of experience and he is extremely talented," Reinbold
said.
"We've got a package we believe can win the race and we want
to put someone in the car like that that is able to take control
of our car, put it up front with Robbie and hopefully win.
"We've
talked to a lot of different people who have contacted us
about Johnny. We have had preliminary discussions with them."
Reinbold
said it would help if the second driver were able to bring some
sponsorship to the team, but said it's not absolutely necessary.
Herbert could get some additional funding from Infiniti, a division
of Nissan.
"We
are in a position where we are going to do it one way or another,"
Reinbold said. "We would have done it last year, but we crashed
in Atlanta right before the Indy 500, so that reduced us down
to two cars.
"This
year, we have three cars in our stable going into it at a
much earlier stage and we are looking to add another. We are
in a better position with our inventory of cars. As we get
closer to Indy, we will make a decision depending on sponsorship
as to what degree we do.
"I
would rather not do a program to get a driver in the field
on the second weekend, but we can do that on our own if nothing
changes today."
Reinbold
also said he would be interested to talk to Greg Ray or Sarah
Fisher, two drivers who were full-time IRL competitors last
year who are rideless so far in 2002.
"We'd
be interested in talking to them," Reinbold said. "Our main
focus is not driver-specific, it's sponsor-specific. We want
to go out and get a full-time two-car effort. Our focus is
entirely on finding enough money to get to a two-car team
because we believe that is a competitive advantage."
Reinbold said a second car would have diluted Buhl's program
last year. He believes the team has reached a competitive level
where he could take on an additional car this season.
"We
are supposed to find something out early next week on one
program and another one will take two weeks," Reinbold said.
"Until that happens, I'm not going to make any decisions or
announcements until I find out exactly what is going to happen."
Another team owner with some interest in Herbert is owner/driver
Eddie Cheever.
"I
think Johnny would do very well in the Indy 500, but I don't
know I'm willing to take on two rookies in the Indy 500,"
said Cheever, who also has rookie Tomas Scheckter on his team.
"We are considering running a third car at Indy, but we have
some issues that need to be resolved after Homestead.
"I
would be interested in a veteran driver like a Greg Ray or
a Mark Dismore at Indy," Cheever continued.
"Herbert's
Champ Car deal fails"
Motoring
News, 6th March: Johnny Herbert is aiming to win this year's
American Le Mans Series after his plans to run in the Champ
Car series with the Sigma team fell through last week. The
Essex racer is still targeting an IRL seat for May's Indy 500
but has confirmed he will contest a full series in the Stateside
sportscar championship alongside fellow ex-F3 champion Andy
Wallace.
Herbert
will start the season with the factory Audi team at the Sebring
12 Hours on March 16 but the Joest-run official squad is planning
to miss the championship's second round at Sears Point. Both
Herbert and Wallace will contest the remainder of the series
with the Florida-based Champion Audi outfit.
"The
Champ Car deal has done its normal trick of running away to
hide," said the former grand prix racer last week. "It
would have been nice to have done it because it was something
I was really after so I am very disappointed. I wanted to
do something different.
"I
am doing Sebring with the new Audi, so I think there is a
chance of going for the championship. The works Audis are
not going to Sears Point because it is to close to Le Mans,
so we will battle with Panoz. I think that they will be very
strong, but overall our car will be much more competitive."
February
2002
CART
rumour - Johnny inked with Sigma again
Former
Grand Prix star Johnny Herbert is close to confirming a deal
to race in this year's US-based CART Championship with Sigma
Autosport, according to a report in this week's Autosport magazine.
Herbert,
37, has already lined up a season of sportscar racing with Audi,
but could switch his attention to the American single-seater
series instead.
"My
motivation is high to do it, and I hope it happens because
it would be good for both sides," Herbert told Autosport.
"Sigma seem to be pushing hard, but with all these things,
it's not done until it's done."
Sigma
director Gerard Hermsen is hoping to tie down a sponsorship
deal this weekend to allow Herbert to race alongside Max Papis
for 2002.
"There's
a fair chance it will happen," said Hermsen. " We've been
talking to Johnny and would love to run him. He's a great
guy and a great racing driver."
Herbert said he has "several options" to race in this year's
Indy 500 as well.
"There
is one Indy deal on the table that looks very promising,"
he said.
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