CART looks towards privatisation

CART floated on the stock market in 1998, but its share price has fallen dramatically in recent years as the Champ Car World Series has struggled in competition to the rival IRL IndyCar Series. The company has now confirmed that it has hired an investment bank to study options for the long-range future of the company, including a possible sale.

The sanctioning body's problems stem from the fact that its revenue has dropped substantially in recent years. CART has traditionally made its money from three main areas: sanctioning fees from race tracks, sponsorship deals and television rights sales.

However, as the popularity of the series has waned, the income from each of these has dropped substantially. The company has also had to spend more money to keep the series running, through taking on the promotion of races itself and subsidising teams to ensure that there was a minimum of 18 cars on the grid this year.

CART boss Chris Pook has long been a proponent of taking the company back into private ownership, and long-term rumours have linked F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone with a buy-in to the championship. Another rumour at Laguna Seca last weekend suggested Jacques Villeneuve's manager and PK Racing boss Craig Pollock could invest in the series.