CART postpones Champ Car season-opener

US series promoter Championship Auto Racing Teams and event promoter Dover Motorsports have postponed the GP of St Petersburg street race, CART's 2004 season-opening event on February 22, to an unspecified later date. The decision is due to the possible acquisition of the Champ Car World Series by the Open Wheel Racing Series consortium, which will be decided by a CART stockholder vote later this month [Nov 11]

Dec 2, 2003, 9:13 AM

"There are many issues involved in the pending sale and privatisation of the company, but chief among those is the fact that our teams need a certain amount of time to properly prepare themselves for a racing season," said CART president Chris Pook. "We looked at many options, including changing the St Petersburg date, but the onset of major league baseball spring training in Florida limits the available dates. We will continue to work with the city of St Petersburg to find an appropriate date for the community in hopes of returning to St Petersburg in 2004 and beyond."

The Toyota GP of Long Beach will now start the 2004 CART season on April 16-18.