Rio race switches from oval to road course
The planned season-opener for the 2001 CART FedEx Championship series at Rio has moved its place in the schedule and will take place on March 25
The first race will now be the all-new Monterrey Grand Prix in Mexico.
In moving the Brazilian date, CART has also switched from Rio's Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway to the circuit's road course. This track, named after triple F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet, was last used in the Grand Prix schedule in 1989.
"While both CART and the Rio 200 were ready to run the race on the date we originally announced, it was a compromise," said Hal Whiteford, CART's president of racing operations. "This change closes a month-long gap in our schedule and helps the flow of our races during the early part of the year."
Fittipaldi, double F1 World Champion, a former CART champion and winner of the Indy 500 said: "These changes give us a fresh opportunity to serve our fans and we are very pleased to have been able to work this out with CART. We have made great strides in growing our event the past two years and these developments will help us to continue to build Champ Car racing in Brazil and worldwide."
March 11, Monterrey, Mexico (Road course)
March 25, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Road course)
April 8, California (Street course)
April 29, Dallas, Texas Motor Speedway (Oval)
May 6, Nazareth, Pennsylvania (Oval)
May 19, Motegi, Japan (Oval)
June 3, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Oval)
June 17, Michigan (Street track)
June 24, Portland, Oregon (Road course)
July 1, Ohio (Airport)
July 15, Toronto, Canada (Street track)
July 22, Michigan Speedway (Superspeedway)
July 29, Chicago, Illinois (Oval)
August 12, Mid-Ohio (Road course)
August 19, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (Road course)
September 2, Canada (Street track)
September 15, Lausitzring, Germany (Oval)
September 22, Corby, England (Oval)
October 7, Texas (Street track)
October 14 Laguna Seca, California (Road course)
October 28, Surfers Paradise, Australia (Street track)
November 4, Fontana, California (Superspeedway)
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