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Motorsports
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 28, 2003
While the Champ Car season got off to a good start Sunday in St. Petersburg, one motorsports heavyweight said the series' future still is in question.
Chip Ganassi, whose team won Champ Car titles from 1996-99, said moving to the rival IndyCar circuit this year came down to going where prospects were brighter.
IndyCar opens its season Sunday at Homestead.
"I see one group with a future and growth (IndyCars), but with the other, I don't see that," Ganassi told USA Today. "I spent a lot of years helping to build CART, so I'm as disappointed as anyone.
"It's not your father's CART anymore."
Ganassi joined a list of high-profile drivers and owners who have left Champ Cars for the IndyCar series, including Roger Penske and Michael Andretti.
"You can't deny the on-track product last year and that competitive racing went a long way to convincing me," he said.
F1: Michael Schumacher led a five-car testing session in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, and Williams test driver Marc Gene topped another in Imola, Italy.
Schumacher, in Ferrari's 2003 model, drove 54 laps on the 2.7-mile track with a top time of 1 minute, 25.626 seconds, .75 seconds faster than David Coulthard in his McLaren but .3 seconds slower than Wednesday.
Both days' tests were conducted in wet, rainy conditions.
In Italy, Gene improved his best time from Wednesday by about 1.4 seconds and had the top time among six drivers.
His best lap was 1:22.918 on the 3.1-mile track in sunny, dry conditions.
British American Racing's Jacques Villeneuve, who led Wednesday's session, had the second best time, 1:22.943, .43 seconds slower than Wednesday.