Papis Can’t Defend Title in Portland
Max Papis will not defend his G.I. Joe’s 200 title and will try to catch on with another team if struggling employer Sigma Autosport can’t come up with adequate funding.
“I’m very frustrated, because I’m a professional person and I’m very precise in what I do,” he said Saturday. “I have not committed myself to end up in this situation, and this is what upsets me.”
Sigma’s withdrawal leaves CART with a season-low 18 cars for today’s race in Portland, Ore. It’s another public embarrassment for the series, which has lost TV ratings and sponsorship dollars to the rival Indy Racing League.
“Of course we’re not happy about it,” CART spokesman Adam Saal said. “I don’t think there’s any way you can put a positive light on this, other than to say the season’s not over, and we’re going to do what we can to help get this team back on track.”
Papis said team owner Tom Wieringa has “promised us that he’s going to try to put things back together” for the Grand Prix of Chicago on June 30.
But Papis said that if Sigma cannot remain viable, he would try to drive for someone else, as Scott Dixon did when PWR Championship Racing folded earlier this year and Dixon was hired by Chip Ganassi.
Wieringa said he’s seeking more sponsorship money and plans on competing in Chicago.
Papis is seventh in the series standings despite Sigma’s season-long troubles. The team has only one car, with no backup, and limited spare parts.
Papis knew before the season began that he was signing on with a low-budget team, but said he didn’t realize Sigma was so deeply in debt. The team reportedly owes several manufacturers, but the most prominent is Cosworth Racing, which leases engines to Sigma. The bills were so high that Cosworth pulled the plug.
CART has been helping where it can, asking vendors to cut Sigma some slack. But as a public company, CART says it’s not in a position to lend financial assistance to one of its teams.
“We just can’t turn on the faucet of funding for every team,” Saal said. “We’ve known that Sigma’s been struggling financially all year, and it eventually caught up with them.”
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After Cristiano da Matta went the first 64 races of his CART career without a pole, he’ll start from the top spot for the second time in eight days.
Da Matta, who won last week’s Monterey Grand Prix from the pole, turned the fastest lap in qualifying for the G.I. Joe’s 200. His Toyota-powered Lola circled the Portland International Raceway road course in 58.679 seconds at 120.8 mph.
Kenny Brack will start second, followed by his Ganassi teammate Bruno Junqueira. Alex Tagliani vastly improved his position during the session, going from 10th-fastest to seventh and finally fourth.
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Gil de Ferran edged Penske teammate Helio Castroneves to win the pole position for the Radisson 225 Indy Racing League event at Fountain, Colo.
De Ferran, one of only four drivers to win consecutive CART championships, turned a qualifying lap of 177.998 mph to earn his second pole of the season. Castroneves, winner of the last two Indy 500s and the IRL’s season points leader, was second at 177.950 mph, followed by Felipe Giaffone at 177.938.
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Heavy rain forced the suspension of the NASCAR Busch Series Kroger 300 race with Greg Biffle leading after 86 of 200 laps. The race was scheduled to resume this morning at 10 a.m. PDT.
The event was delayed at 6:10 p.m. PDT as a 20-minute downpour and lightning descended on Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, sending most of the track-record crowd of 71,299 fans scurrying for shelter.
Officials worked for more than 90 minutes to dry the track, but another lengthy shower forced the suspension of the race.
Todd Bodine, who qualified to run in today’s Winston Cup race at Michigan Speedway, will stay and finish the race in Kentucky.
Stacy Compton and Joe Nemechek will head to Michigan as planned, with David Reutimann taking over for Compton and Mark Green subbing for Nemechek.
Biffle, looking for his second victory of the season, passed Jason Keller on the backstretch on lap 74 to take his first lead of the race. Keller was second when the race was stopped, followed by brothers Jay and Tim Sauter.
Rookie Scott Riggs led the first 35 laps, but gradually dropped back and was 14th at the time of the suspension.
