Rockingham keeps early autumn slot on '02 CART schedule

The schedule adds a race at a new Denver street course, as well as road course rounds in Montreal and Mexico City. The Montreal round will be staged on a modified version of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Grand Prix course, while the Mexican race is set for the former F1 course in Mexico City.

Major changes include moving the Laguna Seca race from October to June and switching Vancouver from its traditional Labour Day slot to the last weekend in July. CART Chairman and CEO Joe Heitzler said the moves were made in an effort to schedule most of the American races in June and July so that they can be broadcast on terrestrial television on the CBS network.

The European rounds remain in September, but they are flip-flopped, with Rockingham preceding the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. After rain (in the case of Germany) and the effects of rain (Rockingham) effected running at both races, many had hoped that the Euro swing would take an earlier summer slot in the schedule.

Heitzler and CART's competition vice-president Tim Mayer said that additional races could be added in April or May, with Las Vegas and Miami the venues under consideration.

"We've left the month of May open because it's tremendously important to some of our competitors," remarked Heitzler. "And we'd like to have a Saturday night race. This is all a product of data-driven decision making."

Mayer admitted that having four of the last five races outside the U.S. was a problem in terms of staying in the public spotlight, particularly if the championship is settled by the time the season finale takes place at California Speedway. He and Heitzler hinted that an additional American round could be scheduled in October.


10 March, Monterrey, Mexico
14 April, Long Beach
27 April, Motegi, Japan
2 June, Milwaukee
9 June, Laguna Seca
16 June, Portland
30 June, Chicago
7 July, Toronto
14 July, Cleveland
28 July, Vancouver
11 August, Mid-Ohio
18 August, Elkhart Lake
25 August, Montreal
1 September, Denver
14 September, Rockingham, England
21 September, Lausitz, Germany
13 October, Mexico City
27 October, Surfers Paradise, Australia
3 November, Fontana