RuSPORT

RuSPORT was an auto racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series. It was founded in September 2002 by Carl Russo.

Team history

Russo drove for the team then known as Performance Development and Racing (PDR) based in Fort Collins, Colorado (USA) which was owned by Steve Wulff. Russo competed in the Toyota Atlantic Series driving a car prepared by PDR in the 2002 season before he decided that team ownership suited him better than being a driver. Russo acquired the assets of PDR from Wulff in late 2002, which gave rise to RuSPORT. Wulff stayed on Operations Director and Gerald Tyler was appointed as Technical Director. Jeremy Dale, a longtime associate of Russo's, was brought on as President of the new operation.

RuSPORT competed in the 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship Series with drivers Aaron Justus and A. J. Allmendinger. Allmendinger won the championship with seven victories from 11 starts.

RuSPORT and Allmendinger moved to Champ Car in 2004 along with a second car driven by Michel Jourdain Jr. The team quickly grew from a small Atlantic Series team to a two-car Champ Car team with more than 40 employees. The rookie team placed Jourdain and Allmendinger in the top-five numerous time en route to Allmendinger winning Rookie-of-the-Year honors. This was only the second time in the history of the Champ Car Series that a rookie team with a rookie driver accomplished the feat.

In 2005, Justin Wilson was signed as a replacement for 2005 for Jourdain, leading the team to their first wins. Wilson scored two victories (Toronto and Mexico City) and finished third in the championship. Allmendinger came close to victory, with four runner-up finishes during the season. For 2006 they were expected to be challengers to Newman/Haas Racing. Mid-way through the season & after 3 straight top 10 finishes, the team surprisingly replaced Allmendinger with 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta who moved over from Dale Coyne Racing. Allmendinger would win the next 3 races in a row for his new team. Cristiano da Matta was injured in a freak collision with a deer during testing at Road America on August 3, 2006.

On September 17, 2006, the team announced that it had selected Australian Ryan Briscoe, to fill in for the final two races of the 2006 season, Surfers Paradise, Australia and Mexico City.

At the conclusion of the 2006 season, Russo's time and energy were being increasingly directed toward his rapidly growing company, Calix, and he was forced to leave behind the team he created and the sport he loved. In November 2006 PKV Racing co-owner Dan Pettit purchased the team from Russo.

On January 22, 2007, RuSPORT confirmed the return of Justin Wilson and title sponsor, CDW. They reportedly signed Wilson to a multi-year contract.^[1] RuSPORT also formed a technical alliance with the Rocketsports team, and the team was dubbed RSPORTS. Wilson won at Assen and scored solidly enough to finish second overall, while Tagliani struggled and finished outside the series top 10. The alliance was however dissolved before the end of the 2007 season. The RuSPORT team dissolved as of December 31, 2007^[2] and Pettit merged his team ownership with Forsythe Championship Racing.^[3] Forsythe would ultimately fold its team when ChampCar merged into the Indy Racing League for 2008.

Past drivers

A. J. Allmendinger (2003–2006)
Ryan Briscoe (2006)
Cristiano da Matta (2006)
Michel Jourdain Jr. (2004)
Aaron Justus (2003)
Justin Wilson (2005–2007)

Racing results

Complete Champ Car World Series results

(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	Pts Pos	Pts
2004					LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LAG	LSV	SFR	MXC
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t	Michel Jourdain Jr.	9	11	11	3	14	15	15	2	9	14	6	4	11	17	9	12th	185
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t	A. J. Allmendinger	10	12	17	5	6	6	11	3	13	5	5	15	6	6	3	6th	229
2005					LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LSV	SRF	MXC
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t	Justin Wilson	9	4	4	4	17	7	1	4	4	17	3	11	7	1*		3rd	265
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t	A. J. Allmendinger	10	8	10	2	5	2	12	14*	17	3	9	13	2	2		5th	227
2006					LBH	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF	MXC
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8 t	Justin Wilson	9	2	5	2	2	2	13	4	1	3	8	14	5	Wth	2*	2nd	298
			A. J. Allmendinger	10	16	8	3	4											3rd	285
			Cristiano da Matta						5	14	5	18	2						15th	134
			Ryan Briscoe														11	14	21st	17
2007					LSV	LBH	HOU	POR	CLE	MTT	TOR	EDM	SJO	ROA	ZOL	ASN	SFR	MXC
2007	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8 t	Justin Wilson¹	9											5	1*	2	10	2nd	281

^ Competed as RSPORTS at Rds. 1-10.

References

^ RuSPORT News, January 22, 2007
^ Oreovicz, John. It's adios and au revoir as Champ Car season closes in Mexico City, ESPN.com, November 8, 2007
^ Malsher, David. Pettit joins Forsythe as RuSPORT close, autosport.com, November 26, 2007

2008 Champ Car season
NHL	Forsythe/Pettit	Minardi	Australia	Rocketsports	Coyne	PKV	PCM	Conquest
1 Wilson 2 Rahal	3 Tracy 7 TBA	4 TBA 14 Doornbos	5 Power 15 TBA	8 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