Rocketsports Racing
Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States.
Team history
Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004, when the championship was cancelled, and achieved 57 outright wins in 20 years. It has also raced in the IMSA sports car racing championship.
Rocketsports joined Champ Car in 2003 with driver Alex Tagliani, who scored the team's only victory at Road America in 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the team fielded cars for pay drivers and frequently changed drivers. In 2007, Tagliani returned full-time and the team shared technical information with RuSPORT. This alliance was dubbed RSPORTS, and took a race win with RuSPORT's Justin Wilson. However, the alliance ended at the end of the season. In 2008, following the unification of Champ Car and the IRL, Rocketsports announced that it would not transition to the IndyCar Series. They did compete in the Champ Car finale at Long Beach Grand Prix, with drivers Antônio Pizzonia, who competed for Rocketsports at Long Beach in 2006, and Juho Annala.[1]
Since the demise of Champ Car, Rocketsports has competed in the revived Trans-Am Series with driver Tomy Drissi, winning the 2009 championship.[2]
Gentilozzi went on to form RSR Racing in 2009.
Drivers that have competed for Rocketsports in Champ Car
- Juho Annala (2008)
- Mario Dominguez (2006)
- Memo Gidley (2004)
- Timo Glock (2005)
- Ryan Hunter-Reay (2005)
- Tõnis Kasemets (2006)
- Michael McDowell (2005)
- Nicky Pastorelli (2006)
- Nelson Philippe (2004)
- Antônio Pizzonia (2006, 2008)
- Guy Smith (2004)
- Alex Tagliani (2003–2004, 2007)
Racing results
Complete CART / Champ Car World Series results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Chassis | Engine | Drivers | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pts Pos | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | STP | MTY | LBH | BRH | LAU | MIL | LAG | POR | CLE | TOR | VAN | ROA | MDO | MTL | DEN | MIA | MXC | SFR | ||||||
Lola B02/00 | Ford XFE V8t | Alex Tagliani | 33 | 19 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 5 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 4* | 9 | 13 | 16 | 7 | 10th | 97 | |
2004 | LBH | MTY | MIL | POR | CLE | TOR | VAN | ROA | DEN | MTL | LAG | LSV | SFR | MXC | ||||||||||
Lola B02/00 | Ford XFE V8t | Alex Tagliani | 8 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1* | 10 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 19 | 11 | 7th | 218 | |||||
Nelson Philippe | 17 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 16th | 89 | ||||||||||||||||
Memo Gidley | 16 | 11 | 21st | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Guy Smith | 10 | 18 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 9 | 17 | 18th | 53 | |||||||||||||||
2005 | LBH | MTY | MIL | POR | CLE | TOR | EDM | SJO | DEN | MTL | LSV | SRF | MXC | |||||||||||
Lola B02/00 | Ford XFE V8t | Timo Glock | 8 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 8th | 202 | ||||||
Ryan Hunter-Reay | 31 | 13 | 7 | 17 | 15 | 18 | 6 | 16 | 14 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 15th | 110 | ||||||||||
Michael McDowell | 12 | 11 | 21st | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||
2006 | LBH | HOU | MTY | MIL | POR | CLE | TOR | EDM | SJO | DEN | MTL | ROA | SRF | MXC | ||||||||||
Lola B02/00 | Ford XFE V8t | Nicky Pastorelli | 8 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 17th | 73 | ||||||||||
Mario Domínguez | 12 | 2 | 17 | 9th | 202 | |||||||||||||||||||
Antônio Pizzonia | 10 | 18th | 43 | |||||||||||||||||||||
18 | 11 | 10 | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Tõnis Kasemets | 16 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 17 | 19th | 34 | |||||||||||||||||
2007 | LSV | LBH | HOU | POR | CLE | MTT | TOR | EDM | SJO | ROA | ZOL | ASN | SFR | MXC | ||||||||||
Panoz DP01 | Cosworth XFE V8t | Alex Tagliani1 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 10th | 205 |
Complete IndyCar Series results
(key)
Year | Chassis | Engine | Drivers | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | HMS | STP | MOT | LBH1 | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | SRF2 | ||||
Panoz DP01 | Cosworth XFE V8t | Antônio Pizzonia | 9 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||
Juho Annala | 10 | 18 |
References
- ^ Rocketsports confirms swansong line-up, Crash.net, April 8, 2008
- ^ Trans-Am Wraps 2009 Season at Road America This Weekend Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, Sports Car Club of America, September 19, 2009, Retrieved 2009-10-02
External links
2008 Champ Car season | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NHL | Forsythe/Pettit | Minardi | Australia | Rocketsports | Coyne | PKV | PCM | Conquest | |
1 Wilson 2 Rahal |
3 Tracy 7 TBA |
4 TBA 14 Doornbos |
5 Power 15 TBA |
8 Bernoldi | 11 TBA 19 TBA |
21 TBA 22 Servià |
28 TBA 29 Figge |
24 Perera 34 TBA | |
Long Beach - Houston - Laguna Seca - Zolder - Jerez - Cleveland - Mont-Tremblant - Toronto - Edmonton - Portland - Road America - Assen - Surfers Paradise - Mexico City |
- Grand American Road Racing Association teams
- Champ Car teams
- 24 Hours of Le Mans teams
- American auto racing teams
- Companies based in Ingham County, Michigan
- Sports in Lansing, Michigan
- American Le Mans Series teams
- Auto racing teams established in 1985
- 1985 establishments in Michigan
- IndyCar Series teams
- Auto racing teams disestablished in 2009