Paul Stoddart's involvement in the Champ Car World Series has been mooted for several months, a deal with the CTE-HVM team for a handful of weeks, but an announcement was only forthcoming as the series began to wind down for Christmas.
The Australian finally confirmed that he would be taking a controlling interest in the CTE-HVM team on Monday [18 December], before facing a barrage of questions from members of the media stoked up by the ongoing hype and expectation.
Eric Mauk - MC:
We are joined today by Champ Car president Steve Johnson, and the new ownership team of what will now be known as Minardi Team USA as many of you saw on the press release that was put out this morning. We are joined by Paul Stoddart and Keith Wiggins, who will be the principles of Minardi Team USA.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. As you saw in the pre release, Mr Stoddart and Mr Wiggins will be taking over what had been known as CTE Racing - HVM, one of the long-time teams in Champ Car and a team that had a great season last year, finishing fourth in the standings with Nelson Philippe. I'd like to turn things over to Steve Johnson, president of Champ Car for today's opening statement.
Steve Johnson:
Thank you and good morning to everybody. This is another big day for the Champ Car World Series as we welcome a man that is respected around the world for his accomplishments in business, as well as in motorsports. Paul Stoddart will bring a new perspective to the Champ Car World Series, having guided the fortunes of the Minardi
F1 team for five seasons, and we look forward to many years of racing with him here at Champ Car.
