Written by:
Kevin Krefting
03/12/2007
Indianapolis, Ind.
Champ Car officials are not fully satisfied yet with the new Panoz DP01's behavior on standing starts. (LAT Photo)
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After gathering feedback from the open tests at MSR Houston and Laguna Seca, Champ Car officials have decided to delay the introduction of standing starts for at least the first three races of the 2007 season. The capability to perform standing starts was one of the directives set by series officials when conceiving the specifications for the new Panoz DP01 chassis that will be raced for the first time this season.
"Safety is our concern and we feel we need to fine-tune our standing-start process before we implement it," VP of operations Tony Cotman said. "We will continue to work with the teams and the manufacturers to find the safest and most reliable option for the standing-start process with an eye toward using them at [round four at] Portland if possible."
Despite the expected myriad of stalls during the testing days, it is believed series officials fear that a standing start in the tight quarters of the Las Vegas and Long Beach and Houston street courses (the first three races of '07) would increase the chance of a first-lap pileup that could decimate much of the 17-18 car field expected to contest this year's campaign.
