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LIGHT READING - Dayton Indy Lights Championship News & Notes

12 April 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

DETROIT - Establishing what could be the curriculum of choice for international open-wheel racing aspirants in the years to come, French talent Soheil Ayari will undertake an unprecedented dual schedule of Dayton Indy Lights Championship and European Formula 3000 competition in 2000.

Ayari, who turned 30 last Wednesday, will run all nine Formula 3000 races with Coloni Racing and nine of 12 Dayton Indy Lights Championship rounds with Brian Stewart Racing (BSR). He makes his Indy Lights debut at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach this weekend, but will miss Round 2 at Milwaukee in addition to the Chicago and Mid-Ohio races later in the season. Those events conflict with races on the European Formula 3000 schedule.

Ayari has been a top open-wheel driver in Europe for most of the past decade. He won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix Formula 3 race in 1997, the same year he won his first Formula 3000 race at Helsinki, Finland, driving for Astromega. In his last two seasons of Formula 3000, Ayari finished fifth in the 1998 championship, with the Durango team, and seventh overall last year driving for Cica Team Oreca. He scored his second career win at the A1-Ring in Austria in 1998.

Ayari's championships include the 1996 French Formula 3 series which he dominated with 11 wins driving for Graff Racing. He also won the 1994 French Formula Ford championship with the same team.

"We welcome Soheil to the Dayton Indy Lights Championship and wish him a great deal of success with his ambitious schedule," said Indy Lights President Roger Bailey. "Indy Lights and Formula 3000 have always had a great deal in common, but this is the first time a driver will simultaneously compete in both series as a way of taking the final step to the top echelons of our sport. I am sure the eyes of the international motorsports community will be on Soheil during his historic season."

Formula 3000 is positioned in Europe as a final proving ground for drivers bound for Formula One while Indy Lights has been quite successful as the final training arena for CART Champ Car drivers. Eight drivers competing in the 2000 FedEx Championship Series are winning graduates of the Dayton Indy Lights Championship.

While Ayari is the first driver to mix Indy Lights and international Formula 3000, several drivers in the FedEx Championship series have experience in the European category. Most notably, reigning FedEx champion Juan Montoya won the 1998 European Formula 3000 championship. Christian Fittipaldi won the Formula 3000 crown in 1991, and Max Papis, Mark Blundell, Kenny Brack, Gil de Ferran, Mauricio Gugelmin, Roberto Moreno and 1998 Indy Lights champion Cristiano da Matta all have EuropeanFormula 3000 experience.

TRIPLE TRIOS

Ayari is one of three drivers at BSR, part of a record trio of full-time, three-car teams in the 2000 Dayton Indy Lights Championship. Defending series champions Dorricott Racing and Conquest Racing will also field three-pronged attacks on the title this season.

Veteran Rodolfo Lavin (Corona/Modelo Lola) and rookie Todd Snyder (Outpost.com Lola) complete BSR's lineup, the team's first full-time trio since 1996. The last time BSR ran a three-car entry in a single race was last year at Toronto where Lavin and David Pook were joined by Kenny Wilden.

Dorricott has run a three-car effort since last year when the team swept the top three spots in the championship with Oriol Servia, Casey Mears and Philipp Peter, respectively. This year's lineup includes Mears (Sooner Trailer Lola) and rookies Townsend Bell (DirecPC Lola) and Jason Bright (Dorricott Racing Lola).

Conquest ran a three-car entry for the first time in the 1999 finale at California Speedway. The drivers in that race, Felipe Giaffone (Hollywood Lola), Chris Menninga (Mi-Jack Lola) and rookie Rolando Quintanilla (Telmex/Prodigy Internet Lola) all return for the full 2000 season.

CHARITY DRIVERS

Drivers from the Dayton Indy Lights Championship and the Toyota Atlantic Championship will be the featured guests at the Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach's International Art & Wine Experience charity event Thursday evening at the Long Beach Convention Center. The drivers will be introduced to the event's attendees at 6:30 p.m. and will then be available for the remainder of the evening to sign autographs and mingle with guests.

Tickets for the evening, which includes wine tasting, entertainment, a balloon raffle and an art exhibit and auction, are still available from the Grand Prix Foundation at (562) 490-4509. The cost is $40 and the full hours for the event are from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

RFK KICK-OFF

Snyder and Menninga will get a headstart on their charitable work Thursday when they take part in the Racing For Kids (RFK) Children's Hospital visit at 1 p.m. at Miller Children's Hospital at Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach. Racing For Kids is affiliated with both the Dayton Indy Lights Championship and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race which takes to the Long Beach circuit on Saturday. Snyder and Menninga will join several celebrities participating in the Toyota race for the hospital visit, including actress Ashley Judd, who is scheduled to appear.

The RFK entourage will visit with young patients and an elf Kids Racer pedal car will be presented to the hospital by elf Race Fuels.

CART SIGNINGS

Championship Auto Racing Teams has made a major commitment to building fan relationships in 2000 and Dayton Indy Lights Championship drivers are part of the program. Several drivers will join their colleagues in the FedEx Championship Series throughout the year in the new CART All Driver Autograph sessions that were conducted at the opening rounds of the FedEx Championship Series. Indy Lights drivers will be included at each of the 11 races run with the FedEx series while an All-Indy Lights Driver Autograph session will be scheduled for the season-ending feature event in Aruba. Indy Lights drivers designated to be part of the session at Long Beach include Bell, Mears, Quintanilla and Cory Witherill (WSA Healthcare/WebShipper.com Lola). The event is scheduled in the CART paddock from 4:45 - 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

Text provided by Adam Saal

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.