PKV Racing enters its fifth season of Champ Car competition, this weekend at the historic season opening Vegas Grand Prix, April 8-10, on the streets of downtown Las Vegas, looking to establish itself as a perennial championship contender during the 2007 Champ Car World Series season. source: champcarworldseries.com PKV Racing is co-owned by successful venture capitalists Kevin Kalkhoven, who also co-owns the Champ Car World Series, and 1996 Series Champion Jimmy Vasser. Kalkhoven established PKV Racing in 2003 as PK Racing. In 2004, Vasser joined the team in the dual roles of owner and driver. Over the last three seasons they have built PKV Racing into a contender for podium finishes as well as a resident of the top-10 in the championship standings. For 2007, the team will feature several new additions and changes. Veteran motorsports manager Mark Johnson, who officially took the helm of the team last year in Toronto (the sixth race of the season), begins his first full season as General Manager of PKV Racing. Joining Johnson are two new drivers, Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy, a new Technical Manager, David Brzozowski and a new Crew Chief, Greg Senerius. In addition, new sponsors Red Bull, Pay By Touch, MegaSpirea and iRise join existing sponsors Bell Micro, now in its third season with the team and Gulfstream, which enters it fourth year of sponsorship, to give PKV Racing a new look and place the team on a solid footing as it pursues its goal of moving to the next level and challenging for a championship. PKV Racing will field a two-car effort in 2007 with Jani piloting the #21 Red Bull-Gulfstream PKV Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone machine and Gommendy taking the wheel of the #22 Pay By Touch-MegaSpirea PKV Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone entry. While a rookie in the Champ Car World Series, Jani is no stranger to the competitive world of open-wheel racing. The 23-year-old native of Rorschach, Switzerland, is a veteran of European racing having competed in go-karts, the Swiss Formula A Lista Junior Championship, where he earned his first formula car title, plus the Formula Renault 2000, Formula Renault V6, GP2 and A1 GP Championships. Jani, who tested for the Swiss Formula One Sauber Petronas Team in 2003 and 2004, became a member of the Red Bull driver development program in 2005. With Red Bull backing, he spent the 2006 season as a test driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team and competed in four GP2 races plus four A1 GP events taking the win and finishing fourth in Malaysia. Jani, who signed with PKV Racing in January, has been very competitive during preseason testing with the new DP01 chassis, finishing in the top-three at each of the three open tests.
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