Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States.

Team history

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Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004, when the championship was cancelled, and achieved 57 outright wins in 20 years. It has also raced in the IMSA sports car racing championship.

Rocketsports joined Champ Car in 2003 with driver Alex Tagliani, who scored the team's only victory at Road America in 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the team fielded cars for pay drivers and frequently changed drivers. In 2007, Tagliani returned full-time and the team shared technical information with RuSPORT. This alliance was dubbed RSPORTS, and took a race win with RuSPORT's Justin Wilson. However, the alliance ended at the end of the season. In 2008, following the unification of Champ Car and the IRL, Rocketsports announced that it would not transition to the IndyCar Series. They did compete in the Champ Car finale at Long Beach Grand Prix, with drivers Antônio Pizzonia, who competed for Rocketsports at Long Beach in 2006, and Juho Annala.[1]

Since the demise of Champ Car, Rocketsports has competed in the revived Trans-Am Series with driver Tomy Drissi, winning the 2009 championship.[2]

Gentilozzi went on to form RSR Racing in 2009.

Drivers that have competed for Rocketsports in Champ Car

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Racing results

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Complete CART / Champ Car World Series results

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(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pts Pos Pts
2003 STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN MIA MXC SFR
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t   Alex Tagliani 33 19 3 10 8 18 5 14 3 8 17 14 3 6 4* 9 13 16 7 10th 97
2004 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LSV SFR MXC
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t   Alex Tagliani 8 8 5 13 7 3 7 7 1* 10 7 6 16 19 11 7th 218
  Nelson Philippe 17 13 10 14 15 10 16th 89
  Memo Gidley 16 11 21st 15
  Guy Smith 10 18 16 9 17 9 17 18th 53
2005 LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL LSV SRF MXC
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t   Timo Glock 8 6 11 9 10 10 7 13 6 13 2 8 6 5 8th 202
  Ryan Hunter-Reay 31 13 7 17 15 18 6 16 14 6 12 10 15th 110
  Michael McDowell 12 11 21st 19
2006 LBH HOU MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL ROA SRF MXC
Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t   Nicky Pastorelli 8 17 15 10 17 17 17 10 12 6 17th 73
  Mario Domínguez 12 2 17 9th 202
  Antônio Pizzonia 10 18th 43
18 11 10 12
  Tõnis Kasemets 16 12 15 11 17 19th 34
2007 LSV LBH HOU POR CLE MTT TOR EDM SJO ROA ZOL ASN SFR MXC
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t   Alex Tagliani1 8 9 15 7 13 10th 205
  1. ^ Competed as RSPORTS at Rds. 1–10.

Complete IndyCar Series results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2008 HMS STP MOT LBH1 KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF2
Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t   Antônio Pizzonia 9 16
  Juho Annala 10 18
  1. ^ Run to Champ Car specifications.
  2. ^ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

References

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  1. ^ Rocketsports confirms swansong line-up, Crash.net, April 8, 2008
  2. ^ Trans-Am Wraps 2009 Season at Road America This Weekend Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, Sports Car Club of America, September 19, 2009, Retrieved 2009-10-02
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2008 Champ Car season
NHL Forsythe/Pettit Minardi Australia Rocketsports Coyne PKV PCM Conquest
Wilson
Rahal
Tracy
7 TBA
4 TBA
14 Doornbos
Power
15 TBA
Bernoldi 11 TBA
19 TBA
21 TBA
22 Servià
28 TBA
29 Figge
24 Perera
34 TBA
Long Beach - Houston - Laguna Seca - Zolder - Jerez - Cleveland - Mont-Tremblant - Toronto - Edmonton - Portland - Road America - Assen - Surfers Paradise - Mexico City