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Rockingham could drop CART race

The Rockingham circuit could be forced to cancel its deal to stage Britain's Champ Car round, after suffering heavy losses staging this year's event.

Rockingham wants to keep hosting the CART race, but believes that it is impossible for the event to become profitable under the terms of its current contract with CART. Because of this, circuit officials have opened a dialogue with CART regarding the future of the event.

The deal between CART and Rockingham was signed in 1999. Rockingham wants alterations to the terms of the contract, on the grounds that both CART and the world economy have gone through significant changes since the deal was agreed.

A crowd of around 40,000 attended this year's Champ Car race at Rockingham, the only CART race currently held in Europe. Rockingham had hoped that the event would attract much larger crowds, and might develop into a rival for the British Grand Prix.

Confirming that Rockingham bosses are to talk to CART about the contract, a spokesman for the circuit said: "We are going through a review of everything run at Rockingham. We need to move Rockingham towards profitability. What we need to ask about every event is 'Is it contributing to Rockingham's bottom line?'"

However, the spokesman stated that Rockingham wanted to continue hosting Champ Cars, saying: "Chris Pook wants a CART race in Europe, and we want a CART race at Rockingham. We are aiming to have the best motorsport here."

The 2003 CART race at Rockingham is due to be held on May 3-4.

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