Dan Clarke

Well, he’s taking it like a man. Despite a stupid mistake on the outlap of the first session of the weekend, Dan Clarke isn’t running from the consequences of his actions. He’s addressing the media, he’s addressing Jan and the drivers and as I write this, he’s signing autograph at the (very packed) autographed session. Yes, despite being suspended for the race on Sunday, Dan Clarke is already looking to Assen and beyond. He respects Tony Cotman’s decision and is sorry for what he did. He told me you learn from your mistakes. Hopefully he did. I know this decision wasn’t easy for Tony Cotman because Dan is a nice guy who means well. He makes bonehead moves on occasion, but has also displayed speed on tracks where speed counts (Cleveland, Road America to name a couple). Cotman has (maybe had at this point) faith in Dan Clarke, as did his team Minardi USA. But, alas, punishment needed to be handed out and I suspect Dan Clarke knew immediately following the incident that he’d be parked. Its part of Tony’s job to make tough decisions and props to him for not being persuaded by any outside factors. During the press conference Tony Cotman shot from the hip and didn’t mince words. Dan had been on probation since San Jose. Tony had even thought of suspending Dan after San Jose, but decided that probation would suffice. It appears that Dan Clarke didn’t learn his lesson and now will watch the race on Sunday from the grandstands. Tony stated that after the race he will re-evaluate the situation to see if further action is needed. Like he said, he likes to sit back and take his time on those types of long term decisions. Let data and logic help your decision, not raw emotion. Today was tough for everybody because he took out Jan Heylen. There is no question that emotions from Champ Car were hotter because of who it was. I’m not suggesting Tony’s decision would have been different if it had been another driver. But let’s face it, Jan is a huge part of this weekend. He’s Belgian, drives for a Belgian Team and has a Belgian sponsor. End of story.

Question is who replaces Dan on Sunday. Mario Dominguez is floating around, as his Zsolt. But, there is also Frank Perrera hanging around. It would be a hell of a jump for the young Frenchman, but he is close to home and given the popularity of Seabass, Simon and Tristan, the series could do a lot worse than put Perrera in the car. Its how a lot of careers are born, right place right time. As of this writing, they haven’t announced who the second driver is going to be.