JANUARY 17, 2007

Champ Car to return to Europe

The Champ Car World Series will return to Europe in 2007, for the first time in four years. The US series has announced plans for races in Holland and Belgium in early September.

The first race will take place on September 2 on the Assen circuit in Holland. This was once a road track but in his recent years has become a permanent racing facility and has ambitions of building up some big car races to go with its famous TT motorcycle event. The second race will take place a week later at Zolder in Belgium, once the home of the Belgian GP. This race will clash with the Italian GP at Monza.

The announcement means that Champ Car has pushed up its calendar to 17 races. The Champ Car series last raced in Europe in 2003 when Sebastien Bourdais won both the Brands Hatch and Lausitzring races. The organisers are obviously hoping that French fans will head north to see their hero in action.