Mario Andretti: AGR could leave IRL

AGR jumped ship from Champ Car to IRL in 2003 and have won the last two series championships with Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon. This season, Michael is running his son, and Mario's grandson, Marco, in a four-car squad.

But Mario reckons that the team will have to look at racing in Champ Car again, with the new one-make Panoz chassis formula starting in 2007. He also believes that when one team has switched to Champ Car, others may follow.

"Champ Car nowadays is more interesting for the circuits they race on," Andretti told Autosprint, "both geographically-speaking and for being more various and complete, because you have street circuits and ovals, while in IndyCar almost all races are on ovals.

"There are many reasons why Michael has a team in this series, due to the support he's had from Honda up to now and to the importance of being present at the Indy 500 for his sponsors.

"His team could even do Champ Car and just the Indy 500, but that would mean racing with completely different cars, making the costs soar and so on.

"Maybe they will [switch to Champ Car]. I think that in 2007 things will change.

"I think as soon as one of the top teams, Penske, Ganassi, Andretti or Rahal will decide to move, the others will follow suit. Rahal and Ganassi could be the ones making the first move."

Asked what Champ Car needed to make it more attractive, Andretti added: "The Indy 500. It's OK for the rest, while IndyCar is more and more in a crisis because they race on ovals. And having just Honda is a signal of technical decadence."