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©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing Team Player’s continued its preparations for the 2001 CART season today by hiring Bruce Ashmore, a former Reynard executive with extensive experience in engineering, as the team’s technical director. Ashmore, who has worked in the motorsport field since 1978, will oversee the overall engineering operations for the two cars driven by Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani - that Team Player’s fields in the FedEx CART Championship. “The CART series is expanding, the competition is getting stronger and the battle between all the manufacturers is a real war, and I wanted to get back into that battle,” said Ashmore, a native of Cambridge, England, who currently resides in Zionsville, Indiana. “Race cars were what got me into the business and being directly involved with a racing team is like going back to my roots.” Ashmore, who last year was named the president of Reynard North America, joined Reynard in 1994 and played an instrumental role in helping to establish and build a number of Reynard-chassis teams in the CART series. The Reynard Indycar won the Indy 500 in 1995 and was the CART champion six straight years between 1995-2000. Prior to his tenure with Reynard, Ashmore was the chief designer for Lola in the company’s Champ Car project in the late 1980s. Lola went on to win the Indy 500 in 1990 and CART championships from 1990-93. “Team Player’s is determined to do everything it can to produce a winning organization, and Bruce certainly fits into that plan,” said Neil Micklewright, Vice-President of Operations for Team Player’s. “In a series as competitive as CART, you’re constantly striving to come up with that extra edge that will put you over the top. Bruce’s considerable knowledge and expertise and his track record of success in motor sports are definite assets for Team Player’s.” Ashmore said he has always had a great deal of respect for the partnership of Player’s and Gerry Forsythe and their strong commitment to winning. He is also impressed by the Team Player's driver duo of Carpentier and Tagliani. “I’ve always liked Patrick. I think he’s a good technical driver,” remarked Ashmore. “And Alex has raw talent and he showed as a rookie this year that he can be right up there.” Team Player’s begins its off season testing program on Dec 19-20 at Sebring in Florida.
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