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2003
CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES
"Bridgestone Presents The Champ
Car World Series Powered By Ford"
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NEW
ENGINE / TYRE PACKAGE
- NEW
TEAMS / ROOKIE DRIVERS
- 2003
CALENDAR:
FEB 23 - NOV 2, 2003
- 19
ROUND CHAMPIONSHIP
- 8
ROAD CIRCUITS; 7 STREET COURSES; 2 OVALS; 1 SUPERSPEEDWAY
- NEW
RACE IN ENGLAND - BRANDS HATCH; NEW RACE IN GERMANY
- 2
NIGHT RACES - Milwaukee and Cleveland (Saturday night races)
RACE
RESULTS: (*rookie driver)
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R19 OF 19,
NOV 2, 2003, FONTANA, CALIFORNIA
*** final race cancelled due to California bush fire ***
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R18
OF 19, OCT 26, 2003, AUSTRALIA - *Hunter-Reay
wins (Rookie)
** TRACY WINS 2003 CHAMPIONSHIP **
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R17
OF 19, OCT 12, 2003, MEXICO - Tracy
wins (7th win)
** BOURDAIS IS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR **
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R16
OF 19, SEP 28, 2003, MIAMI - Dominguez
wins
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R15
OF 19, AUG 31, 2003, DENVER - Junqueira wins
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R14
OF 19, AUG 24, 2003, MONTREAL - Jourdain wins
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MAJOR
CHANGES IN 2003 - designed to reduce cost and
promote racing
NEW
CAR PACKAGE:
- identical Ford
Cosworth engine with Bridgestone tyres
- power down from
about 900 BHP last year to 750 BHP, but greater torque
- chassis combination
of Lola or Reynard
- traction control
removed
- harder compound
tyres
- no tyre warmers
- lower cost:
e.g Ford engine lease costs about $1.2M vs $4.5M last year
total cost per car $4-5M vs $12M last year
LOSS
OF KEY DRIVERS: (see drivers
/ teams)
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Championship contenders
as well as the reigning and former champions have moved on to other
series
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Drivers absent
in 2003 season include MICHAEL ANDRETTI, DARIO FRANCHITTI, TONY KANAAN,
SCOTT DIXON, KENNY BRACK, CRISTIANO DA MATTA, CHIRISTIAN FITTIPALDI
NEW
DRIVERS
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There are 9 rookie
drivers in 2003 line-up: Ryan
Hunter-Reay, Giorgio
Pantano, Sebastien
Bourdais, Tiago Monteiro, Mario
Haberfeld, Patrick
Lemarie, Rodolfo Lavin, Roberto Gonzalez, Joel Carnathias
NEW
TEAMS
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Several key motorsports
personalities have enetered CART as team owners - Craig Pollack, Emerson
Fittipaldi, Stefan Johansson
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New Teams - ROCKETSPORTS,
PK RACING, FITTIPALDI-DINGMAN ,
AMERICAN SPIRIT JOHANSSON
PRE-SEASON
TESTING: BOURDAIS QUICKEST (results)
CART
rookie Sebastien Bourdais set the quickest time during the 3 day pre-season
test at Sebring.
Bourdais is last year's International Formula 3000 champion. He joined
Newman-Haas Racing which won the CART championship in 2002 with Cristiano
Da Matta. Bourdais'
team-mate Bruno Junqueira was 2nd quickest followed by Team Rahal's Michel
Jourdain Jr.
PREVIOUS
SEASON: 2002
SEASON
- CRISTIANO
DA MATTA (NEWMAN HAAS) DOMINATED 2002 SEASON WITH 7 WINS, 7
POLES, 10 PODIUM FINISH
- QUOTE
DA MATTA:
" .. It’s a great feeling to win the championship ... It’s
impossible to explain, but it feels very good. Plus there isn’t
a better way to win a championship than with a victory. Sometimes, when
you clinch the championship with a 4th or 5th place finish, people forget
that it took lots of wins to be in that position. But when you clinch
it with a victory, it pretty much reminds people that you’ve been
good all year ...”
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