2003 CART season

2003 CART season
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
Season
Races	19 18
Start date	February 23
End date	November 9 October 26
Awards
Drivers' champion	Paul Tracy
Constructors' Cup	Lola
Manufacturers' Cup	/ Ford-Cosworth
Nations' Cup	Canada
Rookie of the Year	Sébastien Bourdais
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2002	2004 (CCWS)

The 2003 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, the twenty-fifth and final in the CART era of American open wheel racing, consisted of 18 races, beginning in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 23 and concluding in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on October 26.

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 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford 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 later rebranded themselves as the Champ Car World Series.

Drivers and teams

With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the Indy Racing League for the 2003 season, Cosworth became the exclusive engine supplier for the CART series. Their 2.65L XFE turbo V8 powerplant continued to be badged by Ford. Bridgestone continued on as exclusive tire supplier for the series. A marketing agreement between CART and the two suppliers rebranded the series as Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.^[1]

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

Team	Chassis	No	Drivers	Races
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B02/00	1	Bruno Junqueira	All
		2	Sébastien Bourdais	All
Team Player's	Lola B02/00	3	Paul Tracy	All
		32	Patrick Carpentier	All
Herdez Competition	Lola B02/00	4	Roberto Moreno	1-16, 18
			Roberto González	17
		55	Mario Domínguez	All
Walker Racing	Reynard 02I	5	Rodolfo Lavín	All
		15	Darren Manning	All
		25	Luis Díaz	17
Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing	Reynard 02I	7	Tiago Monteiro	All
Team Rahal	Lola B02/00	9	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	All
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B02/00	11	Roberto González	1
			Alex Yoong	2-5
			Gualter Salles	6
			Geoff Boss	7-18
		19	Joël Camathias	1-7
			Gualter Salles	8-9, 11-15, 17-18
			Alex Sperafico	10, 16
American Spirit Team Johansson	Reynard 02I	12	Jimmy Vasser	All
		31	Ryan Hunter-Reay	All
Patrick Racing	Lola B02/00	20	Oriol Servià	All
PK Racing	Lola B02/00	27	Patrick Lemarié	1-6
			Bryan Herta	7
			Max Papis	8-14
			Mika Salo	15-18
Rocketsports Racing	Lola B02/00	33	Alex Tagliani	All
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	Reynard 02I	34	Mario Haberfeld	All
Fernández Racing	Lola B02/00	51	Adrián Fernández	All

Team changes

With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the Indy Racing League 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.^[2] 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 Formula One team, started the PK Racing team.^[3] Long-time Trans-Am competitor Paul Gentilozzi expanded his Rocketsports Racing team to include a Champ Car effort.^[4] 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^[5] while Formula One and Champ Car veteran Stefan Johansson formed American Spirit Team Johansson.^[6]

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 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 season. 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

• Former Formula One pay driver Alex Yoong took over the Dale Coyne Racing #11 car from Roberto González starting with the 2nd race of the season in Monterrey.^[7]
• Sponsorship problems caused Yoong to lose his race seat to Champ Car veteran Gualter Salles at Milwaukee.^[8]
• 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.^[9] 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.^[10]
• Also at Laguna, the revolving door at Coyne continued with Geoff Boss taking over the #11 from Salles.^[11]
• The shuffle at Coyne didn't 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.^[12]
• PK Racing brought in Formula One veteran Mika Salo for the final four races of the year starting with the race in Denver.^[13]
• 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.^[14]

Races

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

  Oval/Speedway

  Road Course/Street Circuit

Full Series Results

Race Results

Rnd	Race Name	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Grand Prix of St. Petersburg	Sébastien Bourdais	Sébastien Bourdais	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
2	Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey	Sébastien Bourdais	Bruno Junqueira	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
3	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
4	The London Champ Car Trophy	Paul Tracy	Adrián Fernández	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
5	German 500	Sébastien Bourdais	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
6	Milwaukee Mile 250	Alex Tagliani	Patrick Carpentier	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Team Rahal	Report
7	Grand Prix of Monterey	Patrick Carpentier	Patrick Carpentier	Patrick Carpentier	Team Player's	Report
8	The G.I. Joe's 200	Paul Tracy	Alex Tagliani	Adrián Fernández	Fernández Racing	Report
9	US Bank presents the Cleveland Grand Prix	Sébastien Bourdais	Sébastien Bourdais	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
10	Molson Indy Toronto	Paul Tracy	Paul Tracy	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
11	Molson Indy Vancouver	Paul Tracy	Sébastien Bourdais	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
12	Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America	Bruno Junqueira	Sébastien Bourdais	Bruno Junqueira	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
13	Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio	Paul Tracy	Jimmy Vasser	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
14	Molson Indy Montreal	Alex Tagliani	Bruno Junqueira	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Team Rahal	Report
15	Grand Prix of Denver	Bruno Junqueira	Mario Haberfeld	Bruno Junqueira	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
16	Grand Prix Americas Presented by Sportsbook.com	Adrián Fernández	Adrián Fernández	Mario Domínguez	Herdez Competition	Report
17	Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante Presented by Banamex/VISA	Paul Tracy	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Paul Tracy	Team Player's	Report
18	Lexmark Indy 300	Sébastien Bourdais	Roberto Moreno	Ryan Hunter-Reay	American Spirit Team Johansson	Report
19	King Taco 500					Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN MIA MEX SUR Pts 1 Paul Tracy 1* 1* 1 17 12 12 3 2* 2* 1* 1* 15 1* 6 4 16 1* 13 226 2 Bruno Junqueira 3 5 3 2 4 17 2 4 3 3 2 1* 13 13 1* 9 7 15* 199 3 Michel Jourdain, Jr. 2 2 15* 6 3 1* 4 12 7 2 4 16 4 1 6 7 4 4 195 4 Sébastien Bourdais 11 17 16 1* 1* 9 17 14 1 4 3 2 5 19 2 17 2 17 159 5 Patrick Carpentier 8 8 6 5 7 3 1* 16 4 7 13 5 2 3 17 6 14 5 146 6 Mario Domínguez 14 13 5 3 2 8 10 10 5 12 10 14 16 5 7 1 3 10 118 7 Oriol Servià 12 18 12 4 5 2 6 5 6 5 16 18 18 2 3 19 13 19 108 8 Adrián Fernández 15 4 2 12 15 6 7 1 11 9 12 12 7 8 5 8* 8 12 105 9 Darren Manning 13 7 8 10 6 4 18 6 10 8 5 6 8 10 8 11 9 2 103 10 Alex Tagliani 19 3 10 8 18 5 14 3 8 17 14 3 6 4* 9 13 16 7 97 11 Jimmy Vasser 6 14 4 19 8 11 8 7 13 13 11 9 15 16 11 4 17 3 72 12 Mario Haberfeld 4 16 9 9 14 7 5 8 15 19 7 8 10 11 10 5 12 14 71 13 Roberto Moreno 5 6 17 7 10 19 15 9 18 6 17 7 19 7 16 2 16 67 14 Ryan Hunter-Reay 16 12 7 16 11 16 12 17 9 11 6 10 3 17 15 12 11 1 64 15 Tiago Monteiro 7 19 11 14 13 10 9 19 Wth 10 15 17 11 18 13 15 6 18 29 16 Mika Salo 14 3 5 11 26 17 Max Papis 15 12 16 9 4 9 9 25 18 Rodolfo Lavín 18 15 18 15 9 14 19 11 14 15 8 19 12 15 19 18 18 8 17 19 Gualter Salles 13 18 17 DNS 11 17 12 18 15 6 11 20 Geoff Boss 16 13 16 14 DNS 13 14 14 12 10 20 9 8 21 Patrick Lemarié 10 10 13 11 19 18 8 22 Joël Camathias 9 11 14 13 16 15 13 6 23 Alex Yoong 9 19 18 17 4 24 Roberto González 17 10 3 25 Bryan Herta 11 2 26 Alex Sperafico 18 14 0 27 Luis Díaz 19 0 Pos Driver STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN MIA MEX SUR Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) 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 Rookie of the Year Rookie

Point Scoring System:

• Points are awarded based on each driver's resulting place (regardless of whether the car is running at the end of the race):

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Points	20	16	14	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Bonus Points:

• 1 For Fastest Friday Qualifying Lap
• 1 For Fastest Saturday Qualifying Lap
• 1 For Leading The Most Laps Of The Race

Nation's Cup

• Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.

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

Chassis Constructor's Cup

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

Driver Breakdown

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

• 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship season
• 2003 Indianapolis 500
• 2003 IndyCar Series season
• 2003 Infiniti Pro Series season

Notes

1. "Ford increases their stake in CART". motorsport.com. 2002-11-21. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
2. "Conquest Racing joins Champ Car Series". motorsport.com. 2002-12-23. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
3. "Pollock, Kalkhoven form Champ Car team". motorsport.com. 2003-01-15. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
4. "Gentilozzi to own CART team in 2003". motorsport.com. 2002-11-16. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
5. "Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing, driver Monteiro enter Champ Car series". motorsport.com. 2003-02-10. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
6. "Johansson forms two car CART team". motorsport.com. 2002-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
7. "Former F1 driver Yoong joins Dale Coyne Racing". motorsport.com. 2003-03-21. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
8. "Yoong steps down at Dale Coyne Racing". motorsport.com. 2003-05-26. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
9. "Herta replaces PK Racing's rookie for Laguna". motorsport.com. 2003-06-12. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
10. "'Mad Max' Papis returns to Champ Car competition". motorsport.com. 2003-06-18. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
11. "Dale Coyne Racing signs Geoff Boss". motorsport.com. 2003-06-12. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
12. "Toronto: Round ten preview". motorsport.com. 2003-07-08. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
13. "Salo to debut at Denver". motorsport.com. 2003-08-27. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
14. "Walker Racing add Luis Diaz to team's Mexico City lineup". motorsport.com. 2003-09-30. Retrieved 2008-06-11.

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford 2003". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "2003 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
• "Bankruptcy Judge Awards CART, Inc. Assets to Open Wheel Racing Series". The Auto Channel. 2004-01-28. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
• "FEMA Quickly Authorizes Funds To Help Fight Grand Prix Fire" (Press release). Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2003-10-24. Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
• "Standings after Fontana". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.