CART Announces Details for Revised Weekend Race Schedules for 2001 FedEx Championship Series Events ©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing Out-of-season testing also will be limited MONTEREY, Calif. (September 10, 2000) - Championship Auto Racing Teams announced today the details regarding the revised weekend race schedules for the 2001 season, which were previously announced in mid-August. CART, which initially announced the elimination of in-season testing and provisional qualifying on road/street courses as well as a revised Friday practice format for 2001, finalized its Saturday qualifying procedures for road/street circuits and ovals. On road courses, the qualifying sessions will be divided into two groups, which will be split by the drivers' championship points standing at that time. When there is an odd number of entrants, that driver will be placed in the group with the most championship points. The last two drivers seeded to the group consisting of the top point-getters will be the two from the fastest qualifiers from the previous road/street event that were not placed among the group by virtue of their season point totals. Should the first event of the season be a road/street course, the championship points earned the previous season will determine the split groups. On ovals, the qualifying order will be set based on championship points, with the lowest total running first and the highest last. Should the first event of the season be an oval, the order will be based on the championship points of the previous season. In the case of multiple rookies at the season opener, a drawing will determine the order. Some of the other key details include: At the conclusion of 30 minutes of green-flag practice, each entrant may only change cars once per session during Friday's practice. The format will consist of three hours and 45 minutes of practice split over two sessions. CART will seal the timing transponders to each chassis. Teams violating this rule will be black-flagged for the remainder of the session at a minimum and could be subject to additional penalties if warranted. CART will maintain a record of all testing conducted by each entrant over the course of a season. Tire manufacturers will provide CART with documentation of tire allotment to each team on a periodic basis. Three sets of tires will be provided for Friday's practice session. In the case of inclement weather, where applicable, two sets of wet weather tires will be allocated per entrant. Tires can not be transferred to another entrant for any reason. Out-of-season testing also will be limited and the number of cars per team will determine the amount of days. The specific numbers will be announced at a later date. Testing is banned at any circuit located outside the continental United States. Special demonstrations or other events at locations outside the continental United States must be approved in writing by CART.

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