The 2003 Champ Car World Series, the twenty-fifth and final in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing, consisted of 18 races, beginning in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States on February 23 and concluding in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia on October 26. For sponsorship purposes, it was branded as Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.

The intended final event, scheduled to be held in Fontana, California, on November 9 was canceled due to wildfires, one of which was known as the "Grand Prix Fire", burning in and around San Bernardino County.

The Drivers' Champion was Paul Tracy. Rookie of the Year was Sébastien Bourdais. At the end of the season, the operations of a now bankrupt CART were assumed by Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, which continued to brand its top series as the Champ Car World Series. Cosworth (backed by Ford) became the series' sole engine supplier for this season following defection of Honda and Toyota to the rival IRL series for 2003.

The season was the first since 1993 not to feature Michael Andretti.

Drivers and teams With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the Indy Racing League (IRL) for the 2003 season, Cosworth became the exclusive engine supplier for the CART series. Their turbocharged 2.65L XFE V8 engine continued to be badged by Ford. Bridgestone continued on as the exclusive tire supplier for the series. Starting in 2003, CART began branding itself as the Champ Car World Series, and a marketing agreement between CART and the two suppliers resulted in the full branding of "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford."

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 Champ Car World Series season.

TeamChassisNoDriversRacesPrimary Sponsors Newman/Haas Racing Lola B02/00 1 Bruno Junqueira All PacifiCare 2 Sébastien Bourdais All Eli Lilly McDonald's Cialis ConnectED Team Player's Lola B02/00 3 Paul Tracy All Player's It's Your World LastLap.ca 32 Patrick Carpentier All Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 4 Roberto Moreno 1–16, 18 Herdez Roberto González 17 55 Mario Domínguez All Walker Racing Reynard 02I 5 Rodolfo Lavín All Corona 15 Darren Manning All RAC AutoWindscreens U.S. Air Force Air China Sportsbook.com 25 Luis Díaz 17Sun Microsystems Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing Reynard 02I 7 Tiago Monteiro All Laureus World Childhood Foundation O2 Diesel AllSlots.com Team Rahal Lola B02/00 9 Michel Jourdain Jr. All Gigante Office Depot Dale Coyne Racing Lola B02/00 11 Roberto González 1 Lotto Speed Snap-On Tools Malaysia Airlines Alex Yoong 2–5 Gualter Salles 6 Alpina Geoff Boss 7–18 Lacoste 19 Joël Camathias 1–7 City of Lugano Gualter Salles 8–9, 11–15, 17–18 Alpina Alex Sperafico 10, 16 Dale Coyne Racing American Spirit Team Johansson Reynard 02I 12 Jimmy Vasser All American Spirit Team Johansson Gonher de Mexico 31 Ryan Hunter-Reay All Patrick Racing Lola B02/00 20 Oriol Servià All Visteon PK Racing Lola B02/00 27 Patrick Lemarié 1–6 Scientific Atlanta Yalumba Bryan Herta 7 Max Papis 8-14 Mika Salo 15–18 Rocketsports Racing Lola B02/00 33 Alex Tagliani All Johnson Controls Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard 02I 34 Mário Haberfeld All Mi-Jack Fernández Racing Lola B02/00 51 Adrián Fernández All Tecate

Team changes With the departure of Honda and Toyota to the IRL for the 2003 season, four CART teams joined them in the rival series as well. Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Green Racing (a merger of the former Team Green and Michael Andretti's Team Motorola) and Mo Nunn Racing became full-time IRL competitors for the 2003 season. Meanwhile, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing went against flow and jumped from the IRL to CART. Team Rahal and Fernández Racing split their efforts between the two series, each reducing their Champ Car teams to a single car. Dale Coyne Racing returned to full-time status after a partial season effort in 2002.

Four new teams joined the series. Businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and Craig Pollock, who previously managed the British American Racing team in Formula One, started the PK Racing team. Long-time Trans-Am competitor Paul Gentilozzi expanded his Rocketsports Racing team to include a Champ Car effort. Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi would go on to become two of the owners of the series in 2004 after the CART organization went bankrupt. Formula One and Champ Car champion Emerson Fittipaldi and businessman Jamie Dingman formed Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing while Formula One and Champ Car veteran Stefan Johansson formed American Spirit Team Johansson.

Driver changes Along with the major changes to the team lineup to the series, a great many new faces made their debut in 2003. Of the nineteen drivers at the season opener in St. Petersburg, nine were rookies. Most notable was 2002 Formula 3000 champion Sébastien Bourdais who joined Newman/Haas Racing. Bourdais would impress immediately by taking pole in his first race, winning his fourth race, and finishing fourth in the season championship. Walker Racing had a lineup of two rookies, Rodolfo Lavín and Darren Manning, who actually debuted at the 2002 race at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, England but was still considered a series rookie. Three rookie teams campaigned with rookie drivers. Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing ran Tiago Monteiro, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing chose Mário Haberfeld, while PK Racing began the year with Patrick Lemarié.

Familiar Champ Car drivers also found themselves in new surroundings for 2003. With Chip Ganassi Racing gone to the IRL, Bruno Junqueira took over the #1 car at Newman-Haas, replacing Cristiano da Matta who moved on to Formula One after winning the 2002 CART championship. With Team Green also gone to the IRL, Paul Tracy moved over to Team Player's. Tracy would reward his new team with the season championship. Alex Tagliani lost his Player's seat to Tracy but found a ride with the new Rocketsports Racing team. Champ Car's elder statesman Jimmy Vasser joined the new American Spirit Team Johansson team after Team Rahal downsized to a single car. His teammate there was series rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay. Herdez Competition tabbed veteran Roberto Moreno for their expanded two car team.

The list of drivers not changing teams was short. Patrick Carpentier at Player's, Mario Domínguez at Herdez, Michel Jourdain Jr. at Team Rahal, Oriol Servia at Patrick Racing, and Adrian Fernández continued to drive his own car.

Mid-season changes Alex Yoong, a former Formula One pay driver, took over the Dale Coyne Racing #11 car from Roberto González starting with the 2nd race of the season in Monterrey. Sponsorship problems caused Yoong to lose his race seat to Champ Car veteran Gualter Salles at Milwaukee. This marked Salles's first Champ Car start since Road America in August 2000. After a series of disappointing results to open the season, PK Racing replaced Patrick Lemarié with noted Laguna Seca expert Bryan Herta for the race there. Herta's full-time job in 2003 was driving in the IRL for Andretti Green Racing so Max Papis took over the car starting with the following round at Portland. Also at Laguna, the revolving door at Coyne continued with Geoff Boss taking over the #11 from Salles. The shuffle at Coyne did not stop at Portland as Gualter Salles returned, taking over the #19 car from Joël Camathias. Salles remained in the #19 for the rest of the year with two exceptions: Alex Sperafico took over the car at Toronto and Miami because Salles had previous commitments those weekends. PK Racing brought in Formula One veteran Mika Salo for the final four races of the year starting with the race in Denver. Two extra Mexican drivers were brought in for the race in Mexico City. Herdez Competition gave away Roberto Moreno's car to Roberto González for the race, while Walker Racing ran a third car for Luis Díaz.

Schedule Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuitCCancelled race

Rnd Date Race Name Circuit City/Location 1 February 23 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg Street Circuit St. Petersburg, Florida 2 March 23 Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix Fundidora Park Monterrey, Mexico 3 April 13 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 4 May 5 London Champ Car Trophy Brands Hatch Longfield, United Kingdom 5 May 11 German 500 EuroSpeedway Lausitz Klettwitz, Germany 6 May 31 Milwaukee Mile Centennial 250 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 7 June 15 Grand Prix of Monterey Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California 8 June 22 G.I. Joe's 200 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 9 July 5 Cleveland Grand Prix Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 10 July 13 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 11 July 27 Molson Indy Vancouver Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia 12 August 3 Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 13 August 10 Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 14 August 24 Molson Indy Montreal Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Quebec 15 August 31 Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver Denver Civic Center Denver, Colorado 16 September 28 Grand Prix Americas Miami Bayfront Park Street Circuit Miami, Florida 17 October 12 Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico 18 October 26 Lexmark Indy 300 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, AustraliaC November 9 King Taco 500 California Speedway Fontana, California

Results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Winning driver Winning team Report 1 St. Petersburg Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 2 Monterrey Sébastien Bourdais Bruno Junqueira Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 3 Long Beach Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Jr. Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 4 Brands Hatch Paul Tracy Adrián Fernández Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report 5 EuroSpeedway Sébastien Bourdais Michel Jourdain Jr. Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report 6 Milwaukee Alex Tagliani Patrick Carpentier Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal Report 7 Laguna Seca Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier Team Player's Report 8 Portland Paul Tracy Alex Tagliani Paul Tracy Michel Jourdain Jr. Adrián Fernández Fernández Racing Report 9 Cleveland Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Paul Tracy Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report 10 Toronto Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 11 Vancouver Paul Tracy Sébastien Bourdais Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 12 Road America Bruno Junqueira Sébastien Bourdais Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report 13 Mid-Ohio Paul Tracy Jimmy Vasser Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 14 Montreal Alex Tagliani Bruno Junqueira Alex Tagliani Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal Report 15 Denver Bruno Junqueira Mário Haberfeld Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report 16 Miami Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Mario Domínguez Herdez Competition Report 17 Mexico City Paul Tracy Ryan Hunter-Reay Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Team Player's Report 18 Surfers Paradise Sébastien Bourdais Roberto Moreno Bruno Junqueira Ryan Hunter-Reay American Spirit Team Johansson Report 19 Fontana Race cancelled due to wildfires Report

Final driver standings