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INDYCAR: Doornbos Departs NHL
"We had a 12-race deal with Robert, which we fulfilled, and we tried to get an extension but, evidently, he's decided to go somewhere else," said Mike Lanigan
Robin Miller  |  Posted August 03, 2009   Indianapolis, IN
Will "Bobby D" be paired with the team and engineer that delivered his two ChampCar wins in 2007? (LAT)
Robert Doornbos has parted company with Newman/Haas/Lanigan, which likely leaves one seat open for IndyCar's remaining five races and possibly pairs the Dutch driver with his former team in Champ Car for the rest of 2009.

"We had a 12-race deal with Robert, which we fulfilled, and we tried to get an extension but, evidently, he's decided to go somewhere else," said Mike Lanigan, who added that he and partner Carl Haas had not received any "official" notification from Doornbos.

"Now we've got to figure out if we're going to continue to run a second car."

The logical replacement would be Oriol Servia, Paul Tracy or Bruno Junqueira, all former NHL drivers with good track records who are currently without rides as IndyCar heads to Mid-Ohio this weekend.

Doornbos, classified as a rookie in IndyCar despite his experience in Formula One and Champ Car, was believed to be interested in hooking up with Keith Wiggins
HVM operation, where he scored a pair of victories in 2007 in Champ Car.

The 27-year-old native of The Netherlands has struggled this season and been consistently out-performed by his 20-year-old teammate, Graham Rahal. He's had a few mechanical issues and reportedly stormed out of Kentucky Speedway last Saturday after finishing 15 laps behind due to several unscheduled pit stops.

Doornbos' best results were ninth at Long Beach, Richmond and Watkins Glen while he qualified on the outside of the front row at Kansas City and seventh at Toronto.

Wiggins, who could not be reached for comment, thought he would be running Doornbos alongside E.J. Viso in '09 before Bobby D. switched to NHL. It's no secret HVM could use some sponsorship and Doornbos' father is funding his efforts.

Also, Conquest Racing will have former IRL driver Kosuke Matsuura in their car at Motegi, but not before Nelson Phillipe drives the car at Sonoma and Chicago. Eric Bachelart's team is doing everything they can to keep moving forward, even if it means playing musical chairs right now.
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