End of the road for Reynard in CART?

Patrick Racing's decision to go with the Lola chassis in 2003 may have signalled the end of Reynards participation in the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.

Pat Patrick's decision to abandon the Reynard his team used in 2002 for a Lola leaves the company, which won every CART Constructors title from 1995 to 2001, with just one car on the 2003 grid.

The British-based firm, which struck financial trouble this spring and went into receivership, had just four cars on the 2002 CART grid following Honda's decision to buy all its Reynard-mounted teams Lola chassis. That figure now stands at just one following Player's/Forsythe and Patrick Racing's defection to Lola leaving Derrick Walker's rookie driver Roberto Gonzales as the only driver who could use a Reynard next year.

Walker bought the assets of Reynard's North American arm during the middle of the season and vowed to continue development of the quick but finicky chassis into 2003. This now looks unlikely.

When Walker announced his signing of Gonzales he didn't confirm which chassis the former Telefonica World Series driver would use although he did state that he intended to run two cars in 2003.