Options narrow for Moreno.

Roberto Moreno, one of the most popular drivers in the entire CART FedEx Championship Series, looks set to miss out on a drive in the Championship next year after new Patrick Racing signing Townsend Bell was allocated the team's No.20 Reynard-Toyota driven by the veteran Brazilian in 2001.

The completion of Roberto 'Pupo' Moreno's two year stint with Patrick Racing was confirmed earlier this week when 2001 Dayton Indy Lights Champion Townsend Bell was assigned Moreno's #20 prefix for his CART FedEx Series rookie campaign in 2002. Although both Moreno and team boss Pat Patrick had spent many weeks searching for the extra finance to run two cars in the 2002 championship, Moreno signalled his tenure with the team that brought him his first two CART victories was over barring a miracle long before Bell's confirmation in the No.20.

Patrick had spent all of 2001 searching for a primary sponsor for the Team Rahal bound Jimmy Vasser in the second of his two Reynard-Toyota's following the departure of Adrian Fernandez and Tecate and although both Vasser and Moreno carried Visteon colours for the bulk of the 2001 campaign it was clear long before the season's end that a new name needed to be found in order for the No.40 team to continue.

However as has been the case in all Motorsport formulae this winter, the dearth of sponsors' dollars has hit home hard with not even an operation of Patrick Racing's stature able to attract the necessary finance. The current climate of uncertainty in CART may not have helped matters in addition to the ever rising cost of what is regarded as a 'competitive' budget in an economy on its knees and when the press release came through exalting of the potential of the Bell/Patrick/Visteon partnership, not a single mention was made of Moreno or the No.40 team.

At 42 years of age, (43 in February) Moreno is in the twilight of his single-seater career an with the current trend heading towards finding 'the next big thing' in American Motorsports, having years of experience and the proven ability to win races is not always a ticket to the show - just ask Geoffrey Bodine, Max Papis or Mark Dismore. Despite improving with age, Moreno's best chance of a drive in CART next year are outside bets with Chip Ganassi Racing and PacWest - the only two teams with confirmed entries to the series next year but without a dead-cert behind the wheel.

A plum drive alongside Kenny Brack at Ganassi Racing looks highly unlikely and that seat seems to be a straight fight between the Gansssi-contracted-for-2002 Bruno Junqueira and 'Supersub' Memo Gidley and the chances of Moreno driving for Bruce McCaw alongside Scott Dixon are also fairly slim as Mauricio Gugelmin seems to be leaning towards an eighth consecutive season with PacWest as opposed to retirement.

Those two drives aside, Dale Coyne and Team PRG owner Andreas Leberle are still making brave noises about returning to CART next year but have nothing in place before Christmas which doesn't bode while Arciero-Blair Racing appears to have undergone another change of guise with the Larry Blair-led Blair Racing making noises about an Infiniti Pro Series and/or Indy Racing League entry in 2002.

The long-mooted second Herdez Bettenhausen entry is unlikely to materialise any time soon and even if it did one would expect Michel Jourdain Jr to be favourite for the deal while Sigma Autosport have yet to 100 per cent confirm their budget for Oriol Servia next year although are expected to do so shortly after Christmas.

If driver contracts were awarded on personality and passion for not just sport but life itself, Moreno would have the best car in the field of any series he chose to race in but unless a major sponsor suddenly throws itself at the doors of Patrick Racing within the next few weeks holding a seven figure cheque for the 2002 season, next year's CART FedEx paddock will be a much poorer place.