Formula BMW gone from Champ Car

[Sean O'Gorman]

The '05 F-BMW schedule is up, and they are only racing with Champ Car at Denver. Any idea now what is going to fill the support schedule at the few remaining US rounds of Champ Car? I heard rumors that F2000 might show up more often, which is good, I like that series.

[racer2c]

A few weeks ago 'bird eluded to the fact that FBMW's relationship had dissolved with the CCWS, although I never could find any press on the issue. I was hoping that BMW would develop strong ties with the CCWS, obviously that was short lived.

[RHR_Fan]

That's too bad! BMW actually a good amount of cars at the races.

Plus the drivers are around my age. :D

~Nicole

[Don Quixote]

Too bad, seriously. Those cars were quick and they had strong fields and put on a good show. It was a perfect and natural rung in the ladder. I hope there is something else on the horizon. :(

[Easy]

The '05 F-BMW schedule is up, and they are only racing with Champ Car at Denver. Any idea now what is going to fill the support schedule at the few remaining US rounds of Champ Car? I heard rumors that F2000 might show up more often, which is good, I like that series.

Zetec F2000 possibly at Cleveland with ChampCar but that will probably be it unless a major development occurs. Which I wouldn't rule out.

[RichK]

Of the 12 North American races for ChampCar, 5 are street courses and 2 are ovals.

I can see why FBMW is also racing with ALMS/GrandAm/IRL/F1, because they get to go to more road courses like Road Atlanta, VIR, Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio and Sears Point. Not to mention driving at the USGP and Canadian GP.

The FBMW schedule is probably the best one out there! It's got every good road course except Road America.

--edit--they are only testing at VIR and R-Atlanta, see schedule below...---

[B Real]

The '05 F-BMW schedule is up, and they are only racing with Champ Car at Denver. Any idea now what is going to fill the support schedule at the few remaining US rounds of Champ Car? I heard rumors that F2000 might show up more often, which is good, I like that series.

Link to the schedule? I can't find it on the BMW site.

[RichK]

From SPEEDTV.com:

2005 Formula BMW USA schedule:

Official Test, Road Atlanta March 21-22
Official Test, Virginia Int’l Raceway April 9-10
Official Test, Carolina Motorsports Park April 16-17
Round 1 and 2, Laguna Seca Raceway, April 29-May 1
Round 3 and 4, Mid-Ohio Sports Car May 20-22
Round 5 and 6, Canadian Grand Prix June 11-12
Round 7 and 8, United States Grand Prix, Indianapolis, June 17-19
Official Test Putnam Park July 12-13
Round 9 and 10 Barber Motorsports Park, July 29 - 31
Round 11 and 12, Grand Prix of Denver Aug. 12-14
Round 13 and 14, Infineon Raceway Aug. 26 - 28

[FCYTravis]

The FBMW USA link is gone from the Champ Car homepage as well.

[JoeBob]

IIRC, ChampCar was the sanctioning body for FBMW last season. This year, someone else is sanctioning the series. (I forget who)

[Sean O'Gorman]

Well, the Formula Renault link also disappeared off of Grand-Am's site, so I wonder if maybe Champ Car would take over sanction of that, and Grand-Am would take Formula BMW. I doubt that IMSA would have anything to do with it due to their Star Mazda affiliation, so that just leaves SCCA and perhaps NASA.