Champ Car puts exclamation mark on “world” series
The Champ Car World Series will return to Europe for the first time since 2003 with inaugural races in Holland and Belgium.
The new events added to the Champ Car World Series calendar will take place on September 2 at the TT Circuit in Assen, Holland and September 9 at the Zolder circuit in Belgium. It will be the first time that Champ Car has raced in either of the two European nations.
"2007 continues to shape up as one of the most exciting in recent memory for Champ Car and today's announcement raises the anticipation level even higher," said Champ Car President Steve Johnson.
"We considered a number of options for our return to Europe and these two events will prove to be very successful for our teams, fans and sponsor partners."
The Assen circuit, long fabled for hosting exciting Grand Prix motorcycle events, underwent major modifications for the 2006 season, resulting in a 4.5km track that will provide a stern challenge for the Champ Cars.
Zolder is a 3.977km circuit which also underwent safety renovations for the 2006 season, after hosting Formula 1 events in the 1970s and 80s. The track will carry the process a step farther for the 2007 Champ Car visit, making further improvement to ensure a safe and challenging event.
"We are excited to bring the American equivalent of Formula 1 racing to Europe," said promoter Bart Rietbergen.
"Champ Car provides close racing that is easy for European fans to understand, and they will be very impressed with the access that they will have in the Champ Car paddock."
The addition of the two European events brings the number of races on the 2007 Champ Car schedule to 17, marking the most races on a Champ Car calendar since 2003.
The last time that the series went to Europe served as the coming-out party for three-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, who took his first series victories by sweeping races in Brands Hatch and EuroSpeedway Lausitz.
Following the September 9 event in Belgium, the Champ Cars will prepare for the Lexmark Indy 300 in Australia which now becomes round 15 of the 17-round series.
2007 Champ Car World Series
Las Vegas – Apr 8
Long Beach -Apr 15
Houston – Apr 22
China – May 20
Portland – Jun 10
Cleveland – Jun 24
St. Jovite – Jul 1
Toronto – Jul 8
Edmonton- Jul 22
San Jose – Jul 29
Elkhart Lake – Aug 12
Denver – Aug 19
Holland – Sep 2
Belgium – Sep 9
Australia – Oct 21
Mexico City – Nov 11
Phoenix – Dec 2