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In a move that will promote strong racing throughout every lap of a Champ Car World Series event and reward those drivers and teams that run up front, series officials today announced a revised points system that will go into effect with the 2004 season. In the new system, points will be paid to the first 20 finishers with 31 points going to the winner of the event. As has been the case since 1983, the winner will receive four more points than the second-place finisher, with point totals decreasing by two for each place down the order through the top 10. Beginning with the 10th-place finisher, the point total will decrease by one. I think this is a good move for the series and will help the drivers a lot, said 2003 Champ Car World Series champion Paul Tracy. “If you’ve had a day that would have left you out of the points, now you can still get something out of it. It is going to be a very competitive series this year and good finishes are going to be harder to come by so this makes what would have been a bad day, not so bad a day.” In addition, one point will be awarded to a driver for leading one or more laps in a race, another point will be given to the driver that runs the fastest lap of the race and one point will be awarded to the driver that improves the most number of positions from their place on the starting grid. There will no longer be a point given to the driver that leads the most laps in a race. As has been the case for the last two seasons, one championship point will be awarded to the leaders of the Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions on road and street courses, while one point will be available for the qualifying leader on oval courses. We firmly believe that this new system will be better for our fans, said Senior Vice-President of Operations John Lopes. “The point for leading a lap will add an element of strategy and the point for fastest lap provides incentive for every driver on every lap, regardless of position.” All other rules regarding championship points will remain unchanged from 2003. Under the new system, the maximum number of points that a driver could earn on a road or street course weekend is 35. The breakdown of the points system is detailed below. |