2008 Champ Car World Series

Background and series news

The Champ Car off-season entered 2008 with a lot of unknowns and very few announcements in regards to driver lineups. In the wake of four-time series champion Sébastien Bourdais leaving the series to drive in Formula 1, the future was uncertain for most of the field's drivers and teams. Justin Wilson, out of a seat after RuSPORT closed its doors, was eventually signed by Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing to replace Bourdais, and was considered as the early favourite for the title.

In late January, the yearly topic on a potential re-unification between Champ Car and the IndyCar Series was reignited, as it emerged that the Indy Racing League's CEO Tony George had offered free cars and free engines to the Champ Car teams, as well as the addition of five Champ Car races to the IndyCar schedule, during talks held in the fall. Shortly after, George claimed that the window of opportunity for 2008 had passed, while Champ Car owners said that a formal offer was never made.

On January 17, the television schedule for the 2008 season was announced, with ESPN as the sole partner. The deal called for four races to be broadcast on ABC on same-day tape delay with a one-hour packaged format, and four other live broadcasts on ESPN. The remaining six races were scheduled to be aired on ESPN2 on a same-day tape basis, except for the live broadcast of the Mexico season finale.

Only six drivers had been formally assigned at the time of the first Open Test at Sebring on February 2–4, with just 14 drivers taking part after Team Australia decided not to participate in it. Just a few days before being confirmed by Conquest Racing, rookie Franck Perera set the best time of the week, while Franck Montagny impressed in his testing outing with Forsythe/Pettit Racing by leading the short field in the first two days of testing. The next Open Test was due to be held in Laguna Seca on March 13–14.

The wheels of unification were set in motion again on February 7, as Robin Miller reported that a deal had finally been reached between series on similar terms to George's previous offer. Shortly after, Tony George travelled to Japan, in an attempt to convince Honda execs to move the date of the 2008 Indy Japan 300, which had been a key point of contention in merger talks as it fell of the same April 20 date as the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This approach, however, was unsuccessful due to the different availability of dates for the different parties involved, including Kansas Speedway. Champ Car owners indicated that media leaks had led to a standstill in the negotiations, but rumblings over the series' impending bankruptcy made the rounds.

Unification agreement between IndyCar and Champ Car

After a few days of negotiations amid new reports on a done deal, the IndyCar Series and the Champ Car World Series announced a deal to unify the two series on February 22, 2008. The new unified series was centered around IndyCar Series' existing schedule, car and engine/tires suppliers, signifying the end of the Champ Car World Series as a stand-alone series. It was also the end for the Panoz DP01 after just one year of service, and for Cosworth as an engine supplier in Indy car racing.

Under the offer of free cars and engines, six of the nine teams scheduled to compete in Champ Car were able to continue operations in the IndyCar Series, with KV Racing's Oriol Servià as the highest finisher in the standings in ninth place. While Forsythe/Pettit Racing and Rocketsports Racing declined to join the new unified series, Walker Racing announced it had been unable to gather enough sponsorship to make the switch. The decision was eventually revealed to be the result of an acrimonious end of the partnership with Team Australia, who then paired up with KV Racing. By 2017, all teams had folded with the exception of Dale Coyne Racing.

The date conflict between the Indy Japan 300 and the Grand Prix of Long Beach was dealt with a salomonic resolution, as both races would be run as scheduled. The Long Beach race was contested as a 'Champ Car finale' with teams that had been part of Champ Car in 2007, running under the Champ Car branding and using the same rules and vehicles as the previous season, but still receiving points towards IndyCar's standings. The race was won by Will Power, and the event fully became part of the IndyCar schedule in 2009.

The Grand Prix of Edmonton was added to the IndyCar Series schedule as a regular round, while the Gold Coast Indy 300 was held as a non-championship race after the season finale before being discontinued. The Toronto event was reinstated for 2009, but all other ten events on the aborted Champ Car schedule were not retained by the unified series. The races at Houston (2013), Road America (2016), Portland (2018), and Laguna Seca (2019), which was set to return to the schedule after a four-year absence, were eventually revived by IndyCar, but the events at Cleveland, Mont-Tremblant, and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez have not been held anymore as of 2025, as well as the European events at Zolder, Assen and the aborted debut at Jerez.

Confirmed entries

The following teams were expected to compete for the 2008 Champ Car season. All teams would have used a Cosworth 2.65-litre turbocharged V8 engine, a Panoz DP01 chassis, and Bridgestone tires. The driver line-up represents the drivers that had been confirmed as of February 22, 2008, plus additional drivers that had taken part in the Sebring Test earlier in the month.

Driver changes

• On August 10, 2007, it was announced that Sébastien Bourdais would leave Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and the Champ Car World Series in 2008 to make his Formula One debut with Scuderia Toro Rosso as a replacement for Vitantonio Liuzzi. Bourdais would later achieve his fourth consecutive championship before heading to F1.
• On January 5, 2008, PKV Racing announced the signing of Oriol Servià, who had raced with the team in the last two rounds of the 2007 season after moving on from Forsythe Championship Racing.
• On January 7, 2008, Paul Tracy confirmed he would remain in Forsythe/Pettit Racing after discussions over the status of his 5-year deal. Media reports had surfaced in December 2007 about Gerry Forsythe looking to renegotiate of terminate the deal.
• On January 26, 2008, Pacific Coast Motorsports confirmed Alex Figge, son of team founder Tom Figge, would continue to drive the #29 car after finishing 17th in his debut season.
• On January 28, 2008, Rocketsports Racing announced Enrique Bernoldi as their new driver for the 2008 season, replacing Alex Tagliani. Bernoldi moved from Stock Car Brasil, having previously driven in Formula One for the Arrows team in 2001 and 2002 before becoming a test driver for British American Racing and its successor Honda F1.
• On January 29, 2008, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing announced it had signed Justin Wilson, twice a runner-up in the standings driving for RuSPORT, taking the place of the departed Sébastien Bourdais. The team also confirmed the return of Graham Rahal after finishing fifth in his debut season.
• On February 6, 2008, Conquest Racing announced Franck Perera as its first driver for the 2008 season. Perera had finished 2nd in the Atlantic Championship and was the recipient of the $2 million advancement prize, after champion Raphael Matos elected to drive in the Indy Pro Series instead.

Team changes

• On November 5, 2007, RuSPORT announced that the team would be closed down at the end of the season after a four-year tenure in the series, leaving driver Justin Wilson without a ride. The team had recently dissolved its RSPORTS partnership with Rocketsports Racing. The decision was prompted by the loss of their primary sponsor, who lost confidence in the team after the departure of founder Paul Russo. Shortly after, on November 26, 2007, team owner Dan Pettit announced RuSPORT would "merger" with Forsythe Championship Racing, which would run as Forsythe/Pettit Racing for the 2008 season.
• Team Australia elected to miss pre-season testing at Sebring without having made any driver-related announcement for the 2008 season. Team owner Derrick Walker declared he was considering moving the team to the IndyCar Series, due to rumours over Champ Car's potential bankruptcy and the talks between both series over the eventual merger.

Schedule

The 2008 Champ Car schedule was announced on November 5, 2007. For the second year, all Champ Car races were going to be run on road courses and street circuits.

Schedule changes

• The Champ Car Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was set to return on May 18, replacing the San Jose Grand Prix.
• The Champ Car Grand Prix of Spain was going to debut on June 8 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez in Spain, formally taking the place of the Vegas Grand Prix.

References

References

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