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DETROIT -- Four new events and a race in Japan in the midst of Indianapolis 500 preparations in May, highlight the Championship Auto Racing Teams' schedule for 2001.
The addition of previously announced races in Monterrey, Mexico; Fort Worth, Texas; Germany and England, combined with the abandoning of events at Homestead, Fla., and Madison, Ill., gives CART a 22-race schedule next year.
The season is scheduled to open in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Feb. 11.
The Mexican race will take place on March 11, followed by Long Beach, Calif., on April 8. Texas, which originally was scheduled a week later, has been moved to April 29, with Nazareth, Pa., taking the May 6 date.
"The 2001 FedEx Championship Series schedule reaches out to more fans in more markets than at any time in the history of CART," said Rahal, who made completing the schedule the No.1 priority since he was named to run the company on June 16.
"At the core of our series are the 14 races we run here in the U.S. and, with the addition of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, we visit many of the country's leading cities," continued the three-time CART champion. "Couple that with races we run in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Germany and England and you have a schedule that serves our fans, teams, sponsors and manufacturers very well."
CART teams that wish to participate in the rival Indy Racing League's Indianapolis 500 on May 27 will still have that option, although the middle of two weekends of Indy qualifying will take the CART series to Motegi, Japan, for a race on May 19.
That means any CART teams that do compete at Indy would have to qualify on May 12-13 or fail to make the 500-mile race.
Chip Ganassi's team, which has won an unprecedented four straight CART championships, entered Indy last May and wound up winning with Juan Montoya. Teammate Jimmy Vasser finished seventh.
But Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and founder of the IRL, recently announced a change in the May schedule, adding an extra week of practice and one additional day of qualifying next year.
CART's summer schedule is pretty much a carbon copy of this year, with races in Milwaukee, Detroit and Portland, Ore., on June 3 and 17, 24, followed by Cleveland on July 1, Toronto on July 15, Michigan on July 22 and Chicago on July 29.
August's schedule will include Mid-Ohio on the 12th and Road America on the 19th, with Vancouver on Sept. 2.
CART will then make its first-ever trip to Europe, racing on consecutive Saturdays, Sept. 15 and 22, at new ovals near Berlin, and in England, about 80 miles from London.
The season then finishes with races on Oct. 7 in Houston, Oct. 14 in Monterey, Calif., Oct. 28 in Australia, and Nov. 4 in Fontana, Calif.
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2001 CART FedEx Championship schedule
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