2003 Champ Car World Series

Template:American Championship Car season 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
Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B02/00	1	Template:Flagicon Bruno Junqueira	All	PacifiCare
		2	Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais  R	All	Eli Lilly 13 McDonald's 3 Cialis 1 ConnectED 1
Template:Flagicon Team Player's	Lola B02/00	3	Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy	All	Player's 16 It's Your World 2 LastLap.ca16-18
		32	Template:Flagicon Patrick Carpentier	All
Template:Flagicon Herdez Competition	Lola B02/00	4	Template:Flagicon Roberto Moreno	1–16, 18	Herdez
			Template:Flagicon Roberto González  R	17
		55	Template:Flagicon Mario Domínguez	All
Template:Flagicon Walker Racing	Reynard 02I	5	Template:Flagicon Rodolfo Lavín  R	All	Corona
		15	Template:Flagicon Darren Manning  R	All	RAC AutoWindscreens 6 U.S. Air Force 1 Air China 6 Sportsbook.com 5
		25	Template:Flagicon Luis Díaz  R	17	Sun Microsystems
Template:Flagicon Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing	Reynard 02I	7	Template:Flagicon Tiago Monteiro  R	All	Laureus 2 World Childhood Foundation 8 O2 Diesel 7 AllSlots.com 1
Template:Flagicon Team Rahal	Lola B02/00	9	Template:Flagicon Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Gigante 17 Office Depot 1
Template:Flagicon Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B02/00	11	Template:Flagicon Roberto González  R	1	Lotto Speed 2 Snap-On Tools 1 Malaysia Airlines 2
			Template:Flagicon Alex Yoong  R	2–5
			Template:Flagicon Gualter Salles	6	Alpina
			Template:Flagicon Geoff Boss  R	7–18	Lacoste
		19	Template:Flagicon Joël Camathias  R	1–7	City of Lugano
			Template:Flagicon Gualter Salles	8–9, 11–15, 17–18	Alpina
			Template:Flagicon Alex Sperafico  R	10, 16	Dale Coyne Racing
Template:Flagicon American Spirit Team Johansson	Reynard 02I	12	Template:Flagicon Jimmy Vasser	All	American Spirit Team Johansson 17 Gonher de Mexico 1
		31	Template:Flagicon Ryan Hunter-Reay  R	All
Template:Flagicon Patrick Racing	Lola B02/00	20	Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià	All	Visteon
Template:Flagicon PK Racing	Lola B02/00	27	Template:Flagicon Patrick Lemarié  R	1–6	Scientific Atlanta 17 Yalumba 1
			Template:Flagicon Bryan Herta	7
			Template:Flagicon Max Papis	8-14
			Template:Flagicon Mika Salo  R	15–18
Template:Flagicon Rocketsports Racing	Lola B02/00	33	Template:Flagicon Alex Tagliani	All	Johnson Controls
Template:Flagicon Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	Reynard 02I	34	Template:Flagicon Mário Haberfeld  R	All	Mi-Jack
Template:Flagicon Fernández Racing	Lola B02/00	51	Template:Flagicon Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate

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

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road course
 S  Street circuit

Race results

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

Final driver standings

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

Nations' Cup

• Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

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

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Template:Flagicon Lola	387
2	Template:Flagicon Reynard	161
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Driver breakdown

* 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
• 2003 Infiniti Pro Series season