devilmaster
04-05-05, 11:12 AM
ERIC JENSEN'S dream of owning a Champ Car team will take a big turn towards fruition Thursday when he announces a driver for the season opener at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. And in spite of media pressure to "come up with the goods" earlier, Jensen told the Toronto Sun yesterday that he is taking his time in naming a driver because he wants to get it right.
"I have four, maybe five good drivers who want the job," Jensen said. "I would like to put a guy in the car that is going to be with us for the season.
"But a couple of guys want full season deals going into Long Beach and I'm not going to give it to them."
Likely Jensen will name a driver to race at Sunday's LongBeach Grand Prix as a one-off deal.
"I am the guy who has what (drivers) want," he said.
Jensen also admitted that there has been pressure on him to name Vancouver's Michael Valiante as his driver to make the team all-Canadian.
But he said he can't give in to sentimentality -- meaning any driver must come to the table with at least some sponsorship money.
"This is a business and I have to operate it as one," Jensen said. "And I haven't spoken to Michael in two weeks."
Jensen also denied rumours that he was preparing a second car for the Champ Car season.
"Those stories are patently false,"Jensen, a native of Newcastle, Ont., said.
"It's also not true that I planned to introduce my team last week. It was never announced that I would hold a press conference to unveil the team in Montreal."
Jensen operates a number of race related businesses in Montreal and his race team is headquartered there.
He has purchased a Lola chassis from HVM Racing -- a team that won twice in 2004 with Mario Dominguez and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
"We have good equipment and we have put good people in place to run the team," Jensen said.
"We are not going to challenge the Newman-Haas, Forsythe or RuSport team but we will be competitive with everyone else.
"We hope to run the whole season, but like everything in racing, it depends on how much sponsorship we can get."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/Sports/2005/04/05/983091-sun.html
"I have four, maybe five good drivers who want the job," Jensen said. "I would like to put a guy in the car that is going to be with us for the season.
"But a couple of guys want full season deals going into Long Beach and I'm not going to give it to them."
Likely Jensen will name a driver to race at Sunday's LongBeach Grand Prix as a one-off deal.
"I am the guy who has what (drivers) want," he said.
Jensen also admitted that there has been pressure on him to name Vancouver's Michael Valiante as his driver to make the team all-Canadian.
But he said he can't give in to sentimentality -- meaning any driver must come to the table with at least some sponsorship money.
"This is a business and I have to operate it as one," Jensen said. "And I haven't spoken to Michael in two weeks."
Jensen also denied rumours that he was preparing a second car for the Champ Car season.
"Those stories are patently false,"Jensen, a native of Newcastle, Ont., said.
"It's also not true that I planned to introduce my team last week. It was never announced that I would hold a press conference to unveil the team in Montreal."
Jensen operates a number of race related businesses in Montreal and his race team is headquartered there.
He has purchased a Lola chassis from HVM Racing -- a team that won twice in 2004 with Mario Dominguez and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
"We have good equipment and we have put good people in place to run the team," Jensen said.
"We are not going to challenge the Newman-Haas, Forsythe or RuSport team but we will be competitive with everyone else.
"We hope to run the whole season, but like everything in racing, it depends on how much sponsorship we can get."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/Sports/2005/04/05/983091-sun.html