OCTOBER 21, 2002

CART and Villeneuve (again)

We are hearing rumors that the CART board of directors has given the go-ahead for chief executive Chris Pook to embark on a major investment program to save the series with a rumored $40m being taken out of the CART bank accounts to be used to attract teams and drivers to the series.

There is no confirmation of the plan at the moment but our sources indicate that the big fish that CART is still after is Jacques Villeneuve and that there continue to be talks between the CART people and BAR. BAR team boss David Richards has said that he is no longer interested in doing a deal with Villeneuve for the long-term so if Jacques is to come back to F1 after a CART career he will have to discuss a deal elsewhere.

It is anticipated that CART will use some of the money to attract new teams to the series and has been talking with a number of Formula 3000 operations about the possibility of them establishing US offshoots.