Q: all season long ive never heard them refer to him as a rookie and he never has the "R" by his name..i dont remember him ever being in indycar...was he?
A: According to the press release after the Champ Car Homestead test, it was determined that a rookie on a transitional team would be defined as someone who did not have experience driving on ovals in Champ Car. Oriol ran on several ovals before Champ Car went to an all road course schedule. That's the same reason why Bruno Junqueira was not listed as a rookie this year either.