2003 CART season

2003 CART season
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
CART logo (2003).svg
Season
Races19 18
Start dateFebruary 23
End dateOctober 26
Awards
Drivers' championCanada Paul Tracy
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Lola
Manufacturers' CupUnited States / United Kingdom Ford-Cosworth
Nations' CupCanada Canada
Rookie of the YearFrance Sébastien Bourdais
← 2002
2004 (CCWS) →

The 2003 Champ Car World Series, the twenty-fifth and final in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing, consisted of 18 races, beginning in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States on February 23 and concluding in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on October 26. For sponsorship purposes, it was branded as Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.

The intended final event, scheduled to be held in Fontana, California on November 9 was canceled due to wildfires, one of which was known as the "Grand Prix Fire", burning in and around San Bernardino County.

The Drivers' Champion was Paul Tracy. Rookie of the Year was Sébastien Bourdais. At the end of the season, the operations of a now bankrupt CART were assumed by Open-Wheel Racing Series, who continued to brand its top series as the Champ Car World Series.

The season was the first since 1993 not to feature Michael Andretti.

Drivers and teams

With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the Indy Racing League (IRL) for the 2003 season, Cosworth became the exclusive engine supplier for the CART series. Their turbocharged 2.65L XFE V8 engine continued to be badged by Ford. Bridgestone continued on as the exclusive tire supplier for the series. Starting in 2003, CART began branding itself as the Champ Car World Series, and a marketing agreement between CART and the two suppliers resulted in the full branding of "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford."

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 Champ Car World Series season.

Team Chassis No Drivers Races Primary Sponsors
United States Newman/Haas Racing Lola B02/00 1 Brazil Bruno Junqueira All PacifiCare
2 France Sébastien Bourdais  R  All Eli Lilly 13
McDonald's 3
Cialis 1
ConnectED 1
United States Team Player's Lola B02/00 3 Canada Paul Tracy All Player's 16
It's Your World 2
LastLap.ca16-18
32 Canada Patrick Carpentier All
Mexico Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 4 Brazil Roberto Moreno 1-16, 18 Herdez
Mexico Roberto González  R  17
55 Mexico Mario Domínguez All
United States Walker Racing Reynard 02I 5 Mexico Rodolfo Lavín  R  All Corona
15 United Kingdom Darren Manning  R  All RAC AutoWindscreens 6
U.S. Air Force 1
Air China 6
Sportsbook.com 5
25 Mexico Luis Díaz  R  17 Sun Microsystems
United States Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing Reynard 02I 7 Portugal Tiago Monteiro  R  All Laureus 2
World Childhood Foundation 8
O2 Diesel 7
AllSlots.com 1
United States Team Rahal Lola B02/00 9 Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. All Gigante 17
Office Depot 1
United States Dale Coyne Racing Lola B02/00 11 Mexico Roberto González  R  1 Lotto Speed 2
Snap-On Tools 1
Malaysia Airlines 2
Malaysia Alex Yoong  R  2-5
Brazil Gualter Salles 6 Alpina
United States Geoff Boss  R  7-18 Lacoste
19 Switzerland Joël Camathias  R  1-7 City of Lugano
Brazil Gualter Salles 8-9, 11-15, 17-18 Alpina
Brazil Alex Sperafico  R  10, 16 Dale Coyne Racing
United States American Spirit Team Johansson Reynard 02I 12 United States Jimmy Vasser All American Spirit Team Johansson 17
Gonher de Mexico 1
31 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay  R  All
United States Patrick Racing Lola B02/00 20 Spain Oriol Servià All Visteon
United States PK Racing Lola B02/00 27 France Patrick Lemarié  R  1-6 Scientific Atlanta 17
Yalumba 1
United States Bryan Herta 7
Italy Max Papis 8-14
Finland Mika Salo  R  15-18
United States Rocketsports Racing Lola B02/00 33 Canada Alex Tagliani All Johnson Controls
United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard 02I 34 Brazil Mario Haberfeld  R  All Mi-Jack
Mexico Fernández Racing Lola B02/00 51 Mexico Adrián Fernández All Tecate
R Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Team changes

With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the IRL for the 2003 season, four CART teams joined them in the rival series as well. Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Green Racing (a merger of the former Team Green and Michael Andretti's Team Motorola) and Mo Nunn Racing became full-time IRL competitors for the 2003 season. Meanwhile, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing went against flow and jumped from the IRL to CART. Team Rahal and Fernández Racing split their efforts between the two series, each reducing their Champ Car teams to a single car. Dale Coyne Racing returned to full-time status after a partial season effort in 2002.

Four new teams joined the series. Businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and Craig Pollock, who previously managed the British American Racing team in Formula One, started the PK Racing team. Long-time Trans-Am competitor Paul Gentilozzi expanded his Rocketsports Racing team to include a Champ Car effort. Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi would go on to become two of the owners of the series in 2004 after the CART organization went bankrupt. Formula One and Champ Car champion Emerson Fittipaldi and businessman Jamie Dingman formed Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing while Formula One and Champ Car veteran Stefan Johansson formed American Spirit Team Johansson.

Driver changes

Along with the major changes to the team lineup to the series, a great many new faces made their debut in 2003. Of the nineteen drivers at the season opener in St. Petersburg, nine were rookies. Most notable was 2002 Formula 3000 champion Sébastien Bourdais who joined Newman/Haas Racing. Bourdais would impress immediately by taking pole in his first race, winning his fourth race, and finishing fourth in the season championship. Walker Racing had a lineup of two rookies, Rodolfo Lavín and Darren Manning, who actually debuted at the 2002 race at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, England but was still considered a series rookie. Three rookie teams campaigned with rookie drivers. Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing ran Tiago Monteiro, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing chose Mario Haberfeld, while PK Racing began the year with Patrick Lemarié.

Familiar Champ Car drivers also found themselves in new surroundings for 2003. With Chip Ganassi Racing gone to the IRL, Bruno Junqueira took over the #1 car at Newman-Haas, replacing Cristiano da Matta who moved on to Formula One after winning the 2002 CART championship. With Team Green also gone to the IRL, Paul Tracy moved over to Team Player's. Tracy would reward his new team with the season championship. Alex Tagliani lost his Player's seat to Tracy but found a ride with the new Rocketsports Racing team. Champ Car's elder statesman Jimmy Vasser joined the new American Spirit Team Johansson team after Team Rahal downsized to a single car. His teammate there was series rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay. Herdez Competition tabbed veteran Roberto Moreno for their expanded two car team.

The list of drivers not changing teams was short. Patrick Carpentier at Player's, Mario Domínguez at Herdez, Michel Jourdain Jr. at Team Rahal, Oriol Servia at Patrick Racing, and Adrian Fernández continued to drive his own car.

Mid-season changes

  • Alex Yoong, a former Formula One pay driver, took over the Dale Coyne Racing #11 car from Roberto González starting with the 2nd race of the season in Monterrey.
  • Sponsorship problems caused Yoong to lose his race seat to Champ Car veteran Gualter Salles at Milwaukee. This marked Salles's first Champ Car start since Road America in August 2000.
  • After a series of disappointing results to open the season, PK Racing replaced Patrick Lemarié with noted Laguna Seca expert Brian Herta for the race there. Herta's full-time job in 2003 was driving in the IRL for Andretti Green Racing so Max Papis took over the car starting with the following round at Portland.
  • Also at Laguna, the revolving door at Coyne continued with Geoff Boss taking over the #11 from Salles.
  • The shuffle at Coyne did not stop at Portland as Gualter Salles returned, taking over the #19 car from Joël Camathias. Salles remained in the #19 for the rest of the year with two exceptions: Alex Sperafico took over the car at Toronto and Miami because Salles had previous commitments those weekends.
  • PK Racing brought in Formula One veteran Mika Salo for the final four races of the year starting with the race in Denver.
  • Two extra Mexican drivers were brought in for the race in Mexico City. Herdez Competition gave away Roberto Moreno's car to Roberto González for the race, while Walker Racing ran a third car for Luis Díaz.

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd Race Name Circuit City/Location Date
1 United States Grand Prix of St. Petersburg  S  Albert Whitted Airport St. Petersburg, Florida February 23
2 Mexico Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix  S  Fundidora Park Monterrey, Mexico March 23
3 United States Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  S  Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 13
4 United Kingdom The London Champ Car Trophy  R  Brands Hatch Longfield, United Kingdom May 5
5 Germany German 500  O  EuroSpeedway Lausitz Klettwitz, Germany May 11
6 United States Milwaukee Mile Centennial 250 Presented by Miller Lite and Argent Mortgage  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin May 31
7 United States Grand Prix of Monterey  R  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California June 15
8 United States G.I. Joe's 200  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon June 22
9 United States U.S. Bank presents the Cleveland Grand Prix  S  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio July 5
10 Canada Molson Indy Toronto  S  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario July 13
11 Canada Molson Indy Vancouver  S  Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia July 27
12 United States Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America Presented by Briggs & Stratton  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 3
13 United States Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio August 10
14 Canada Molson Indy Montreal  R  Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Quebec August 24
15 United States Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver  S  Denver Civic Center Denver, Colorado August 31
16 United States Grand Prix Americas Presented by sportsbook.com  S  Miami Bayfront Park Street Circuit Miami, Florida September 28
17 Mexico Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante Presented by Banamex/VISA  R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico October 12
18 Australia Lexmark Indy 300  S  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia October 26
- United States King Taco 500 (Cancelled)  O  California Speedway Fontana, California November 9

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Dedicated road course
 S  Temporary street circuit

Race results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Winning driver Winning team Report
1 United States St. Petersburg France Sébastien Bourdais  R  France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
2 Mexico Monterrey France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Brazil Bruno Junqueira Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
3 United States Long Beach Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
4 United Kingdom Brands Hatch Canada Paul Tracy Mexico Adrián Fernández France Sébastien Bourdais  R  France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Newman/Haas Racing Report
5 Germany EuroSpeedway France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. France Sébastien Bourdais  R  France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Newman/Haas Racing Report
6 United States Milwaukee Canada Alex Tagliani Canada Patrick Carpentier Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal Report
7 United States Laguna Seca Canada Patrick Carpentier Canada Patrick Carpentier Canada Patrick Carpentier Canada Patrick Carpentier Team Player's Report
8 United States Portland Canada Paul Tracy Canada Alex Tagliani Canada Paul Tracy
Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr.
Mexico Adrián Fernández Fernández Racing Report
9 United States Cleveland France Sébastien Bourdais  R  France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Canada Paul Tracy France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Newman/Haas Racing Report
10 Canada Toronto Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
11 Canada Vancouver Canada Paul Tracy France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
12 United States Road America Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Brazil Bruno Junqueira Brazil Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report
13 United States Mid-Ohio Canada Paul Tracy United States Jimmy Vasser Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
14 Canada Montreal Canada Alex Tagliani Brazil Bruno Junqueira Canada Alex Tagliani Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal Report
15 United States Denver Brazil Bruno Junqueira Brazil Mario Haberfeld  R  Brazil Bruno Junqueira Brazil Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report
16 United States Miami Mexico Adrián Fernández Mexico Adrián Fernández Mexico Adrián Fernández Mexico Mario Domínguez Herdez Competition Report
17 Mexico Mexico City Canada Paul Tracy United States Ryan Hunter-Reay  R  Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Team Player's Report
18 Australia Surfers Paradise France Sébastien Bourdais  R  Brazil Roberto Moreno Brazil Bruno Junqueira United States Ryan Hunter-Reay  R  American Spirit Team Johansson Report
19 United States Fontana Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver STP United States MTY Mexico LBH United States BRH United Kingdom LAU Germany MIL United States LAG United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States MDO United States MTL Canada DEN United States MIA United States MEX Mexico SUR Australia Pts
1 Canada Paul Tracy 1* 1* 1 17 12 12 3 2* 2* 1* 1* 15 1* 6 4 16 1* 13 226
2 Brazil Bruno Junqueira 3 5 3 2 4 17 2 4 3 3 2 1* 13 13 1* 9 7 15* 199
3 Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. 2 2 15* 6 3 1* 4 12 7 2 4 16 4 1 6 7 4 4 195
4 France Sébastien Bourdais  RY  11 17 16 1* 1* 9 17 14 1 4 3 2 5 19 2 17 2 17 159
5 Canada Patrick Carpentier 8 8 6 5 7 3 1* 16 4 7 13 5 2 3 17 6 14 5 146
6 Mexico Mario Domínguez 14 13 5 3 2 8 10 10 5 12 10 14 16 5 7 1 3 10 118
7 Spain Oriol Servià 12 18 12 4 5 2 6 5 6 5 16 18 18 2 3 19 13 19 108
8 Mexico Adrián Fernández 15 4 2 12 15 6 7 1 11 9 12 12 7 8 5 8* 8 12 105
9 United Kingdom Darren Manning  R  13 7 8 10 6 4 18 6 10 8 5 6 8 10 8 11 9 2 103
10 Canada Alex Tagliani 19 3 10 8 18 5 14 3 8 17 14 3 6 4* 9 13 16 7 97
11 United States Jimmy Vasser 6 14 4 19 8 11 8 7 13 13 11 9 15 16 11 4 17 3 72
12 Brazil Mario Haberfeld  R  4 16 9 9 14 7 5 8 15 19 7 8 10 11 10 5 12 14 71
13 Brazil Roberto Moreno 5 6 17 7 10 19 15 9 18 6 17 7 19 7 16 2 16 67
14 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay  R  16 12 7 16 11 16 12 17 9 11 6 10 3 17 15 12 11 1 64
15 Portugal Tiago Monteiro  R  7 19 11 14 13 10 9 19 Wth 10 15 17 11 18 13 15 6 18 29
16 Finland Mika Salo  R  14 3 5 11 26
17 Italy Max Papis 15 12 16 9 4 9 9 25
18 Mexico Rodolfo Lavín  R  18 15 18 15 9 14 19 11 14 15 8 19 12 15 19 18 18 8 17
19 Brazil Gualter Salles 13 18 17 18 11 17 12 18 15 6 11
20 United States Geoff Boss  R  16 13 16 14 19 13 14 14 12 10 20 9 8
21 France Patrick Lemarié  R  10 10 13 11 19 18 8
22 Switzerland Joël Camathias  R  9 11 14 13 16 15 13 6
23 Malaysia Alex Yoong  R  9 19 18 17 4
24 Mexico Roberto González  R  17 10 3
25 United States Bryan Herta 11 2
26 Brazil Alex Sperafico  R  18 14 0
27 Mexico Luis Díaz  R  19 0
Pos Driver STP United States MTY Mexico LBH United States BRH United Kingdom LAU Germany MIL United States LAG United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States MDO United States MTL Canada DEN United States MIA United States MEX Mexico SUR Australia Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th-6th place
Light Blue 7th-12th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 12)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Nation's Cup

  • Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.
Pos Country STP United States MTY Mexico LBH United States BRH United Kingdom LAU Germany MIL United States LAG United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States MDO United States MTL Canada DEN United States MIA United States MEX Mexico SUR Australia Pts
1 Canada Canada 1 1 1 5 7 3 1 2 2 1 1 3 1 3 4 6 1 5 298
2 Mexico Mexico 2 2 2 3 2 1 4 1 5 2 4 12 4 1 5 1 3 4 262
3 Brazil Brazil 3 5 3 2 4 7 2 4 3 3 2 1 10 7 1 2 7 6 228
4 France France 10 10 13 1 1 9 17 14 1 4 3 2 5 19 2 17 2 17 161
5 United States United States 6 12 4 16 8 11 8 7 9 11 6 9 3 14 11 4 11 1 107
6 Spain Spain 12 18 12 4 5 2 6 5 6 5 16 18 18 2 3 19 13 19 106
7 England England 13 7 8 10 6 4 18 6 10 8 5 6 8 10 8 11 9 2 103
8 Portugal Portugal 7 19 11 14 13 10 9 19 Wth 10 15 17 11 18 13 15 6 18 28
9 Finland Finland 14 3 5 11 26
10 Italy Italy 15 12 16 9 4 9 9 25
11 Switzerland Switzerland 9 11 14 13 16 15 13 6
12 Malaysia Malaysia 9 19 18 17 4
Pos Country STP United States MTY Mexico LBH United States BRH United Kingdom LAU Germany MIL United States LAG United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States MDO United States MTL Canada DEN United States MIA United States MEX Mexico SUR Australia Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup

Pos Chassis Pts
1 United Kingdom Lola 387
2 United Kingdom Reynard 161
Pos Chassis Pts

Driver breakdown

Pos Driver Team Entries Wins Podiums Top 5s Top 10s Poles Laps Lead Points
1 Canada Tracy United States Team Player's 18 7 10 11 12 6 658 226
2 Brazil Junqueira United States Newman-Haas Racing 18 2 9 12 14 2 184 199
3 Mexico Jourdain Jr. United States Team Rahal 18 2 6 11 15 1 350 195
4 France Bourdais  R  United States Newman-Haas Racing 18 3 7 9 10 5 254 159
5 Canada Carpentier United States Team Player's 18 1 4 8 14 1 107 146
6 Mexico Domínguez Mexico Herdez Competition 18 1 4 7 13 -- 76 118
7 Spain Servià United States Patrick Racing 18 -- 3 7 9 -- 37 108
8 Mexico Fernández Mexico Fernández Racing 18 1 2 4 11 1 123 105
9 United Kingdom Manning  R  United States Walker Racing 18 -- 1 3 15 -- 4 103
10 Canada Tagliani United States Rocketsports Racing 18 -- 3 5 11 1* 70 97
11 United States Vasser United States American Spirit Team Johansson 18 -- 1 3 8 -- 18 72
12 Brazil Haberfeld  R  United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 18 -- -- 3 11 -- -- 71
13 Brazil Moreno Mexico Herdez Competition 17 -- 1 2 9 -- 6 67
14 United States Hunter-Reay  R  United States American Spirit Team Johansson 18 1 2 2 6 -- 15 64
15 Portugal Monteiro  R  United States Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing 18 -- -- -- 5 -- 14 29
16 Finland Salo  R  United States PK Racing 4 -- 1 2 2 -- 6 26
17 Italy Papis United States PK Racing 7 -- -- 1 4 -- -- 25
18 Mexico Lavín  R  United States Walker Racing 18 -- -- -- 3 -- -- 17
19 Brazil Salles United States Dale Coyne Racing 9 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 11
20 United States Boss  R  United States Dale Coyne Racing 11 -- -- -- 2 -- -- 8
21 France Lemarié  R  United States PK Racing 6 -- -- -- 2 -- -- 8
22 Switzerland Camathias  R  United States Dale Coyne Racing 7 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 6
23 Malaysia Yoong  R  United States Dale Coyne Racing 4 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 4
24 Mexico Roberto González  R  Mexico Herdez Competition
United States Dale Coyne Racing
2 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 3
25 United States Herta United States PK Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2
26 Brazil Sperafico  R  United States Dale Coyne Racing 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- 0
27 Mexico Díaz  R  United States Walker Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- 0

* Alex Tagliani started on pole at Milwaukee but was not awarded the bonus point for it when the qualification session was rained out. The grid was set by practice times. This result is not counted in Tagliani's season total in this table.

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-06-22 10:24 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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