Champ Cars could beat F1 to Russia

Fittipaldi noted that, with its "wide prospects and well-surfaced roads," there would be no shortage of sites for a race in the historic city, and he saw no reason why it should not go ahead. "Ideally, it would be great to have a Russian team participating in the event," he concluded in a media conference in the Grand Hotel Europe. "Russia has some young and talented drivers who could compete."

About 20km south of the city centre, building has begun of the state-funded Pulkovoring (Pulkovskoe Koltso) circuit, which is favoured to replace Moscow as the venue of an F1 Russian GP [Aug 1]. Russian president Vladimir Putin approved the construction project in May 2002 after representations by St Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev.

The location of the new FIA-standard race track is near Pulkovo International Airport in an area recently designated as an economic development zone. It was planned to commission the facility during 2003, which is the city's tercentenary, but this now looks unlikely.

If a St Petersburg fixture comes to fruition, there would be interesting possibilities for a tie-up with the Champ Car downtown street race in St Petersburg, Florida.