Officials of Championship Auto Racing Teams and the Super Touring Championship have announced a long-term arrangement which will see CART sanction Super Touring Races in North America beginning this year.

Super Touring Championship races will be part of the 1997 schedule at all but one of CART’s North American road and street course venues. The season begins April 11 - 13 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The Touring Series ran its inaugural season last year with SCCA-PRO sanction.

"Super Touring races bring welcome variety to our racing weekends," said Andrew Craig, CART President and Chief Executive Officer. "The cars are high-tech and fast, and are a good fit for CART. Already, two teams are involved in Super Touring (PacWest and Tasman) and I anticipate a growing number of our teams will field cars in the future."

Super Touring race cars are high-performance sedans heavily modified for competition. Although Super Tourers resemble street-going cars, they ride very close to the ground and use big but low-profile Michelin tires.

The Super Touring Championship will also be featured in the inaugural Dixie Crystals Grand Prix at Savannah Harbor, May 16 - 18.