Assen Event Closes Series’ Strong Stay Across The Pond

ASSEN, Netherlands — As expected, the Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen was the more commercially successful event of the Champ Car World Series’s 2007 European Tour.
Assen organizers announced a race-day attendance of 61,200 and a three-day total of 74,900. The promoter of the race at Zolder, Belgium, staged a week prior to Assen claimed a three-day attendance of 40,000.
“We are very pleased with the way the fans have received Champ Car in Europe,” said promotion chief Bart Rietbergen. “Attendance for race day in Assen was very strong, as we had expected with 50,000 tickets sold in advance. Friday and Saturday had outstanding crowds by European racing standards.”
Rietbergen said that his only disappointment was having a major ticket agency return approximately 3,000 tickets for the pit straight grandstand reserved seats. The majority of fans preferred to watch from earth banks lining the corners of the 2.83-mile road course.
“This track is 2.8 miles long and I don’t think there were any empty spaces anywhere on the banking,” said race winner Justin Wilson.
“If that is what 61,000 people look like, I have to question the attendance numbers coming out of America,” added third-place finisher Bruno Junqueira.

• One of the most entertaining aspects of the Assen race was the performance of the American national anthem. The singer contracted for the job withdrew at the last moment, forcing organizers to locate a replacement on short notice.
Tom Van Vleet, who works for Lee Van Dam Productions, stepped up to the mic, and apart from a couple of lyric flubs, all was going well until his voice broke trying to reach the high notes at “rocket’s red glare.” Van Vleet paused to compose himself before finishing the song, to an approving roar of laughter from the crowd.
“If that is our biggest disaster of the weekend, they we have done OK,” said Rietbergen. “Tom just needs to work on that high C.”

• Most of the Champ Car teams and series personnel were housed in Holland at the Hof Van Saksen, a new Phanos Resorts property located about 15 minutes from the Assen circuit. Having everyone together in one place reminded some of the “Olympic Village” concept.
Phanos Resorts sponsored the inaugural Champ Car European Team Cup, which was won by Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal. The combined RuSPORT and Rocketsports teams took second, followed by Team Australia.

• Owners of the RuSPORT and Rocketsports teams revealed that although they will continue to share a technical partnership, they will no longer combine under the R-Sports banner for commercial purposes.
RuSPORT owner Dan Pettit and primary sponsor CDW were reportedly unhappy with Rocketsports owner Paul Gentilozzi’s plan to accept sponsorship from Hustler show clubs. Hustler decals were removed from the Rocketsports cars driven by Alex Tagliani prior to the trip to Europe and the No. 8 car bore markings from Dutch safety equipment manufacturer Holmatro for the two overseas races.
“The two teams found it necessary to use their old names for strictly business reasons,” stated a Rocketsports press release. “Sponsor opportunities that were being worked on for a long time require the use of the well-established team names.”

• Jan Heylen delivered a timely performance for Conquest Racing, qualifying seventh and finishing second at Assen. The 27-year-old Belgian was the only driver who repeatedly passed other cars during the race on the narrow road course.
Team owner Eric Bachelart, also a Belgian, is reportedly looking to sell an interest in the Conquest organization to the Dutch Trust computer firm.
“This is a great result acquired by a combination of a great drive from Jan, an excellent Team effort with fast pit stops and obviously a very good car determined by our engineers,” Bachelart said. “This team has been progressing during the whole season and we are all excited to compete now at the top of the field.”

• Paul Tracy qualified and finished last at Assen, a first in his long Champ Car career. The fiery Canadian gained seven places on the opening lap, only to be bumped off course by local favorite Robert Doornbos.
“I guess that was a fitting end to a very bad weekend,” Tracy said. “I think I passed almost 10 cars on the first couple of corners, then I went inside to pass Doornbos and he just closed the door on me and I had to slam on the brakes to avoid him.”
Oriol Servia finished eighth in the other Forsythe Championship Racing entry.