2007 TEAM REVIEW: Forsythe Championship Racing

For the team that won the 2003 title, the 2007 Champ Car World Series season was something of a mixed bag as Forsythe Championship Racing could count a victory, some podiums, numerous top-10 finishes and few DNFs in its year-end tally.

But for the operation whose driver dominated in 2003, the 2007 seasonal results fell below those extraordinary standards.

FCR stalwart Paul Tracy found himself teamed with Mario Dominguez again when the season opened in the streets of Las Vegas and Tracy opened the era of the DP01 by winning the provisional pole and earning the right to start on the front row. Tracy and pole winner Will Power swapped the lead in the early laps, but Tracy fell victim to a malfunctioning fueling apparatus and would ultimately wind up third behind Power and rookie Robert Doornbos. Dominguez, who had started seventh, soldiered home to ninth place.

Off to a good start, the team suffered a major setback in Long Beach when Tracy crashed in Friday practice and injured his back. The injury would force the Canadian to miss the next two races. Fortunately for the Forsythe team, a very capable driver was ready and able to hop into the cockpit of the repaired car. Oriol Servia, whose substitution role for injured Newman/Haas driver Bruno Junqueira in 2005 resulted in the Spaniard’s best season to date, was once again cast in a similar role.

Qualifying 14th with virtually no practice time, Servia patiently moved up in the standings during the race and when the checkered flag fell, he was second, only 2.6 seconds behind winner Sebastien Bourdais. Dominguez, who had started 10th, struck the Turn 9 barrier and was forced to retire in 17th position.

“Well I really wasn’t expecting to be here,” Servia said after the race. “I wanted, but I wasn’t expecting to be here when I came on Friday. So I’m just very happy. I am very glad that I was given the opportunity. And I knew that the car was going to be good and the team was going to do a good job. I knew that if I wasn’t too rusty, I could do a good job. So I took the opportunity and made the best of it.”

Houston produced reasonable results for the team with Servia starting fifth and finishing fourth and Dominguez starting ninth and finishing sixth. But with seven weeks between Houston and the fourth race of the season–Portland–Tracy was given adequate time to heal and was able to rejoin the Series, missing only two races in the process.

Unfortunately for Dominguez, Tracy’s return coupled with Servia’s success made the Mexican expendable and he assumed Servia’s previous status. However, it would not be long before the Mexican’s services would be required.

Portland proved problematic and neither driver qualified well with Servia 11th and Tracy 13th. An early spin cost Tracy and a lengthy stop to replace a front wing that had suffered a structural failure put Servia out of contention. In the end, Tracy wound up 10th and Servia finished 11th.

The always-exciting race at Cleveland lived up to expectations and Tracy had one of the more eventful days in his colorful career. Tracy needed to replace his front wing on two separate occasions. Normally, even one change would alter the outcome, but pit strategy paid off and Tracy recorded his first victory in two seasons. Servia came home seventh.

Mechanical problems relegated Tracy to a 15th-place finish at Mont-Tremblant while Servia posted another top-10 result, this time finishing ninth.

First-lap contact eliminated Tracy from Toronto, but Servia, who had started third, was able to avoid the fray and led the first 34 laps before pitting. Fuel pickup problems and later contact would drop him to 10th. Although both drivers qualified on the seventh row in Edmonton, the race was kinder and Tracy finished fifth, one spot ahead of Servia.

Servia added his second podium of the season by finishing third at San Jose behind rookies Robert Doornbos and Neel Jani. The Spaniard had been quick all weekend, qualifying fourth. In the meantime, Tracy qualified 11th and finished 11th.

Both drivers had their work cut out following qualifying at Elkhart Lake. Servia was 14th on the grid with Tracy two spots behind him. Both would move forward during the race with Servia ending up an impressive fourth. Tracy wound up 12th, the last car on the lead lap.

Servia emerged from Europe with two more top-10 finishes. After starting 10th at Zolder, he finished sixth and then added an eighth at Assen to his growing tally of top 10s. Tracy qualified seventh and finished 10th at Zolder, but suffered yet another mechanical malfunction that forced him to finish 17th at Assen.

Remembering his solid performance turned in a year earlier, Forsythe Championship Racing opted to sign rookie David Martinez for the final two races of the year.

Tracy qualified third at Surfers Paradise, his best effort since the season opener, and as one of the former winners of the race, had every reason to believe he could win again. Ironically, his race would be seriously affected following opening-lap contact made with none other than Servia. Tracy ultimately finished ninth while Martinez stayed out of trouble and cruised from 17th to a top-10 finish, right behind his teammate.

For the season finale at Mexico City, both FCR drivers ran well with Tracy qualifying eighth and Martinez 10th. Tracy moved up in the race and finished fifth. Martinez was running fifth when gearbox problems resulted in a lengthy stop that cost him several laps. He wound up 14th, his first finish out of the top 10 in four starts.

“I’m actually really happy,” Martinez said of the race. “We didn’t achieve the result that we wanted, but I think that we showed that we can fight up front and that if I have the chance to race all year I will be able to contest for victories. Obviously what happened was very disappointing, but there’s no point on worrying about what’s outside your control. I gave everything I had and I think people noticed that.”

“I got a great start and jumped a couple cars on the grid,” said Tracy, who ended up 11th in the final championship standings. “The car was OK, but not great. It got really loose halfway through each stint, so that’s really what we were fighting. I couldn’t really lean on the rear hard enough. We just finally got a half-decent result. The team has worked really hard this year, and we haven’t really had a lot of highlights. It’s been all lowlights. To come and have a good race–and we had a good race in Australia–it’s something we can build on for ‘08.”

However, 2008 will see the team operate under a new name. Shortly after the end of the season, it was announced that team owner Gerald Forsythe and RuSports owner Dan Pettit would combine their operations to form Forsythe/Pettit Racing.

Visit www.champcar.ws on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 for a look back at Minardi Team USA’s first Champ Car season.

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