This year, in April I did something I've never done before ... I put my predictions for the 2005 Champ Car World Series down in writing. Now, with the season over I thought it was about time I took a look at them to see how I did. source: Iain Shankland Here is a recap of my predictions and the outcome as I see it ... Most Wins - Bourdais. That was easy to get right. He's so consistent, and he's a great driver. The question remains, why are there no F1 teams banging on his door with a contract to sign? Most Improved Driver - A.J. Allmendinger. I think A.J. did improved this year, and learned a few hard lessons along the way, but the most improved without a doubt was Nelson Philippe, with a very strong performance. While some might say Oriol Servia was the most improved this year, (and I have to agree to some extent), I think Newman/Haas could make any driver look fantastic. Most Improved Team - PKV, a great team. With Kalkhoven, DaMatta and Vasser together - how could they lose? Well they were more of a disappointment in 2005 than I expected. DaMatta had a miserable year - a couple of rookie-type mistakes and being in the wrong place at the wrong time really messed up his season. Vasser on the other hand was pretty consistent and finished a respectable 6th in the final standings, while DaMatta ended up 11th. Biggest Whiner - The list of contenders consisted of Tracy, Junquiera and his team mate Bourdais. I wrote: "I think Junquiera's going to come through loud and clear for 2005, while Tracy is going to put his head down get it done. However, if Bourdais encounters some problems and things don't go his way, he may be giving Junquiera a run for his 'dummy'." Bruno was out of this category pretty quickly thanks to A.J. "speedbump" Foyt IV at the Indy 500. However, I must say how impressed I was with Bruno. Despite his horrific incident at the Indy 500, he remained positive and did no whining about his accident and his physical condition. He's the one that put his head down in 2005 and got it done ... he's made excellent progress with his therapy and is expected to return to Champ Car next year - way to go Bruno! Between our other two contenders in the biggest whiner category, both Tracy and Bourdais did their share. Tracy complained about Bourdais, but I think justifiably so. Bourdais on the other hand just whined all season about everything. From Tracy not giving him enough room, to slower drivers, the conditions, and anything else that didn't go his way.
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