I think we're going to be able to push each other in a friendly but a competitive way. I mean, four teammates when everyone is learning a new car, I think we've got the advantage going into the season now. No other teams -- the two days of testing before Long Beach, we're going to get four cars with data where a one-car team is going to be at a disadvantage.
It's a great formula for the series coming up, personnel, all the guys on the team we've met and been working with the last few weeks getting the deal together have just been phenomenal. You really need a family friendly atmosphere to make a successful team. The minute you walk in the shop you can understand why these guys have been so successful, because they have that formula and they have that feeling around the whole shop.
Q.
Richard Phillipe, the 2005 Formula BMW champion, three pins, six poles, ten top 5s last year making a big jump into Atlantic and you're definitely ahead of the curve making this jump at such a young age. Tell us how you feel about this opportunity.
RICHARD PHILLIPE:
First of all, going with Forsythe was the best deal possible. Like James said, there's not -- every driver wants to be with Forsythe or to sign with Forsythe. I've driven the car, and it's quite a step, but I'm eager to learn. I need a challenge, and I'm ready to take this challenge.
ERIC MAUK:
Your expectations to this year, have you thought about them long enough to set any goals for yourself?
RICHARD PHILLIPE:
My goal this year is pretty simple. There's one thing I want to do, and it's win. These guys, my teammates, are going to be competitive and tough, but if I drive to be second, I'm not going to drive.
ERIC MAUK:
As most people on the call that will be listening know, you're the brother of Nelson Philippe, who's entering his third season in the Champ Car World Series. You spent time in the Champ Car paddock, seeing the track, just being in the atmosphere. Does that help at all, make you a little looser, take the pressure off you?
RICHARD PHILIPPE:
It's a little easier. I've been hanging in the paddock for two years watching Nelson and everything, most of the teams. Learned a lot just by watching. I don't know the tracks. I've only driven on two of the tracks. So learning the tracks is going to be one more challenge, but a lot of drivers are going to be on the same page as I am. I'm sure that Nelson can help with that. It's going to be a good season, and we can walk the track together.
ERIC MAUK:
Good luck to all four of you guys. We look forward to seeing you on the racetrack this year.
Q.
Congratulations to you guys. Great opportunity for all four of you. I wonder if each of you could tell us a little bit about the end of last season going into the fall and winter and what your goals were. Were you focused on getting rides in Atlantic, did you have other options, were there other series you were looking at? What was your approach and how did this thing come together from that point of view? If Leo would start and we could go through each guy.
LEONARDO MAIA:
Well, at the end of last year I wasn't really racing. I was looking really to drive anything. But I was focused on Atlantic because I went to every single Atlantic race. I had been talking to all of the teams, sort of really focusing on the whole Champ Car organisation, like the Champ Car World Series and the Atlantic then. Really I just did everything to get on an Atlantic team. I knew with the new car coming that everyone would sort of start on the same page.
I talked to John (Brunner), who's the manager for the Atlantic team here at Forsythe, and we just started talking about each of us and about next year, and that's when I knew I pretty much had to be on this team. I had to be in Atlantic next year. The $2 million driver incentive is something huge and something I don't think motor sports has really seen before. It's just something that definitely closed the deal, to focus on Atlantic, and I just really have to say thank you to Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven and all the people that really got behind the series and really made it possible to sort of bring back the lower formula in open wheel in the U.S. because I think that has been struggling for a long time. Other than that, that's about it.
ANDREAS WIRTH:
Well, at the end of the season actually after Denver I tried to win the championship, but it came different. I don't really know what to say about that now. After Road America or after the accident at Road America, it was definitely my goal to go into Champ Car if I finished let's say the top two or top three. But everything came different, so I knew after the accident that I would do the Atlantic series again because of the $2 million incentive, and I think that that's the biggest help a driver can get from a series.
Like Leo said, I think that's something which is new to motor sport. That's one thing which makes it so attractive for all the drivers for this year. But I really think that I did the right decision now, and I'm really looking forward to starting the season off.
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE:
Last year ran really well for us. We had a good streak at the end of the season, and are basically going into a season where the competition is. Once the new package for '06 was announced for Champ Car, the interest in the series was just instant and it was overwhelming. There was sure that there was going to be a lot of talent in the field, a lot of good teams coming in. You want to come and drive against them. So it was really a no-brainer for us.
And then from that point on, it was just trying to narrow down who would give us the best opportunity to succeed in this series, and we made a short list of teams, and we happened to land ourselves with the No. 1 choice. It put us in good position for next year. The team is capable. I'm very confident in my own abilities and I've got great teammates backing me up, so we have no excuses for next year.
RICHARD PHILLIPE:
Well, after the 2005 season ended, after winning the championship, I was for sure clear that I wasn't going to go another year in
BMW, so we looked straight ahead at Champ Car Atlantic. It looked to be the best, the most competitive. The $2 million was for sure very attractive for the possible 2007 season in Champ Car. Same with most of us, you know, we spoke to a lot of teams with my manager, and put down a couple of teams on a list, and Forsythe was No. 1. We ended up having a deal with them, so I'm very pleased and can't wait to get in the car.
Q.
Ambitious I don't think is too strong a word to use, an ambitious effort. I guess maybe I'd focus one question toward sort of the elder statesman of the driving crew, Leo. The last few years have really kind of been -- I think as you are sort of living proof, a difficult car for young drivers in America, what with the sort of the demise of Indy Lights and obviously the Infiniti Pro Series hasn't really taken off in any meaningful way, and as we saw in the last couple years, the Atlantic series was sort of in decline, at least in terms of numbers, just in terms of the costs and everything, a lot of reasons behind that.
But can you talk about the new Atlantic series just seems -- certainly in your case and probably in a lot of other guys like you, it really seems to be the right series at the right time, does it not?
LEONARDO MAIA:
That's exactly right. It's just perfect timing. In my case, I was able to -- I don't want to say luck into it, but it's just everything sort of fell right in the right spot, and I had been having such bad luck the last couple of years that I was sort of on the verge of giving up. One thing happened and then another thing happened and then the dominos started to fall. Now I'm sitting here talking to you, which really is what I was dreaming for since the beginning.
Q.
Could you maybe talk a little bit about how difficult it was and maybe what some of the obstacles were to getting a full programme together the last couple of years?
LEONARDO MAIA:
It's been really, really tough, to be honest. To make a long story short, about a year ago, I was in the middle of downtown Torino in Italy and ended up handcuffed to the side of a car, and now I'm sitting here talking to you. Things change in a hurry. I just want to say don't give up; if you have something you want, chase after it. I'm proof that it can happen. You'll get there.
Q.
I guess sort of a general question to all four of you, the drivers, and Neil, as well, you're looking at -- I don't know, I've sort of lost track of the actual numbers here, but I think we're looking at probably a good, let's say a good 30 serious drivers and cars at a minimum, at least at the start of the year, and just what it means to a driver in terms of his pedigree, if you will, to a driver who's able to win a championship above and beyond the $2 million prize money, somebody who beats two dozen or maybe as many as three dozen other really talented drivers? That's a pretty big feather in his cap in terms of moving up to Champ Cars.
NEIL MICKLEWRIGHT:
I'll take that one happily. It is a major challenge. You know, the programme that we've put together is very ambitious, but we're looking forward to that. I think in terms of getting out there for all of these young men, certainly we intend to give them the best equipment possible.
The nice thing from my perspective is they're still fairly impressionable. I feel that myself along with the other team members of Forsythe Championship, we can bring a lot to the table in terms of helping their skills and helping them to be the best they can be. Certainly if we go out to a race and there are a total of 36 cars out there, first of all, we've got to beat the other 32, and then these guys worry about beating each other.
