Following the announcement that he is to take a controlling interest in the CTE-HVM team, Paul Stoddart continues to explain his reasons for joining the Champ Car series, alongside Keith Wiggins and series president Steve Johnson.
Q:
Paul, obviously you talked about getting the money, sponsorship on the
F1 front, the difficulties there, what do you think the key selling points are for Champ Car?
PS:
I think, first of all, the budget that you're looking to attain is a sensible budget. And I wouldn't say it's
very achievable - if it was easy, everybody would do it - but it is achievable, because you're getting more bang for your buck. That's the only easy way to put it. Champ Car represents a tremendous investment.
And, from a sponsor payback point of view, I think we've got a few ideas that perhaps are a little bit different to those that have been tried in the past. I'm very, very confident that we will attain the budget that we set for this year and, as Keith alluded to, budgets we're already looking to for years 2008, 2009 and beyond. I think we will make it. I don't underestimate the fact that people will say you can't attain F1-type budgets in any other form of sport or in any other form of motorsport, but I think there's a good level playing field that will allow teams to go out there and market successfully and get the type of sponsors into the series and into the teams that will allow us to fund, fully fund, our year-in, year-out programmes, so I feel quite confident.
Q:
Not so much selling points, but what do you think the key strengths are of Champ Car?
PS:
First, that it's a well-organised, well-run, well-disciplined series, with participants that race from lights to flag, but it doesn't strike me as it's got anywhere near the politics that you do get in some other forms of motorsport.
