Back where they started.(Competition)

Paul Gentilozzi's new Rocketsports CART team has finally landed its driver. CART veteran Alex Tagliani, the first driver Gentilozzi spoke to after he announced his team last fall, will drive Rocketsports' Johnson Controls-backed entry.

Tagliani has his advantages. He has name recognition and has shown occasional flashes of brilliance during his three-year CART career. Most important, he comes to Rocketsports essentially free of charge, under an existing contract with Players/Forsythe Racing (where he was bumped by the arrival of Paul Tracy).

On the other hand, the Gentilozzi-Tagliani combo could prove volatile. Tagliani has never worked for a hands-on team owner with impressive driving credentials of his own, and he has developed the reputation as an emotional driver who bends a lot of cars. Even Tony Cicale, one of CART's best-known engineer/coach/ psychologists, couldn't do much to calm Tagliani at Players/Forsythe.

Ramping up

As with the IRL, testing for the 2003 CART season has begun in earnest. Some teams, like Newman-Haas Racing, are taking advantage of CART's ``rookie evaluation'' rule to extend the number of allowed test days. The latest candidate is 2002 European F3000 champ Sebastien Bourdais, who impressed Newman-Haas with 200 trouble-free miles at Sebring. With F1 veteran Ricardo Zonta signing as Toyota's F1 test driver (see subsequent item), 23-year-old Bourdais now has the inside line to join 2002 CART runner-up Bruno Junqueira at Haas. CART insiders say owner Carl Haas could have Bourdais under contract by the end of the month.

CART's first 2003 test open to all teams is Jan. 23 at Laguna Seca.

Totaling up