Dorricott Racing Gateway Notebook

Corricott Racing Notes

* Team owner Bob Dorricott and his wife, Phyllis, recently returned from Barcelona, Spain, where they were guests of Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia president Sebastian Salvado. Salvado invited the Dorricott's to attend the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. In addition to watching the F3000 and Formula One races from "suite" seats above the start-finish line, the Dorricott's were also provided a brief tour of the Benetton garage and car rides around the race circuit's immediately adjacent perimeter road. Salvado was a guest of the Dorricott's last April when he visited the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

"There were 35 entries for the F3000 race and they put on a good show," said Dorricott. "The racing wasn't as close as a typical Indy Lights race, but it was interesting to watch other world-class drivers on a different continent. It was my first Formula One race. I was impressed with the precision of the teams and the beautiful track for the Spanish Grand Prix. It should go without saying that visiting the Benetton garage was a great and unexpected thrill."

* Former CART FedEx Championship Series driver Parker Johnstone is Dorricott Racing's Driver Development Consultant this season. Johnstone, a four-year CART veteran who is also the winningest driver in IMSA history with 54 career victories, coached the team's first-year Lights drivers Oriol Servia, of Pals, Catalonia, Spain, and Philipp Peter, of Monaco, to fourth place finishes at Homestead and Long Beach, respectively. * According to Bob Dorricott, Bud Keading was impressive from his first test day last fall at Thunderhill. He tested again at Las Vegas in January and did well. Last week was his busiest week of testing as he joined Dorricott Racing for two days in Milwaukee and two days at Gateway."

"Most of his learning curve is how to communicate in this type of racing," said Dorricott. "Racing four wheels on something other than dirt is different for him. We were initially concerned that he wouldn't adapt as fast because of a lack of seat time. We'll see how he does at St. Louis. He won't take big chances as he is still learning the feel of the car."

* Two veteran mechanics, Rob Stark, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and Antoni Dwornik, of England, have been added to assist chief mechanic Eric Jones on Keading's Lola. * Testing at Gateway last Thursday and Friday was beneficial but not without incident. Servia, who had been running very quick times for Gateway, contacted the wall in turn three Friday morning when the car developed a push. He was uninjured but the car suffered a broken gearbox. Servia's chief mechanic, Andy Nagy, reports the car will be repaired and ready for this weekend's race.

# # #