Biela, Werner take Trois-Rivieres.(Competition)

Frank Biela and Marco Werner drove their Audi to victory in the American Le Mans Series race at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, scoring their third ALMS win of the year. Biela and Werner led all 169 laps to beat Johnny Herbert and JJ Lehto, in another Audi. Olivier Beretta and David Saelens finished third in a Panoz LMP 01.

Jon Field and Duncan Dayton won the LMP 675 class in an MG-powered Lola, while Oliver Gavin and Kelly Collins won the GTS class in their Corvette. Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen won the GT class in a Porsche. It was their third GT win in four races.

Whole new look

Whether or not CART finds a buyer, a 2004 Champ Car season could look significantly different from years past in an effort to trim costs and bring losses under control. Various sources in and around the series have indicated to AutoWeek that car counts could fall significantly, and that the schedule will very likely be shortened, to as few as 13 or 14 races from the present 19. While team owners expect CART's Entrant Support Program to continue in accordance with their agreements with the sanctioning body, CART management has deem- ed the much more generous Team Assistance Program as probably too expensive to continue. The loss of that program is expected to result in the loss of several financially strapped teams, which CART may find difficult to replace. CART's sanctioning agreements with several tracks, which specify minimum car counts, would have to be changed to accommodate the shortfall.

The two European dates at Lausitz and Brands Hatch will likely meet the ax. Pre-liminary estimates by CART place the financial losses for these events at $3.1 million, while the series intends to refocus its efforts on North America. Few expect Mid-Ohio to remain on next year's schedule. Road America, which won an emergency reprieve this year upon the intervention of Mario Andretti, has at best a 50-50 chance of returning, even though one year remains on its current deal. Ironically, Miami has been CART's most hurtful race relative to the bottom line, but it is expected to remain on the calendar. Earlier this year, CART bought out existing promoter Raceworks LLC for $1.2 million, assuming $4.7 million in debt. However, the Miami market is seen as too important and CART's investment too great to abandon the event. NASCAR's addition of a second Winston Cup date at California Speed- way in the fall signals CART's days at the track are probably numbered, and its contract runs out in 2004 in any event. Meanwhile, this week the IRL and the Milwaukee Mile are expected to announce a new date in August, though reportedly the CART race is not immediately affected. But with the potential loss of Lausitz, Fontana and Milwaukee, CART's final separation from oval racing would be complete.

Another big change for CART in 2004 may be the appearance of a new leader. Reports are that once CEO Chris Pook seals the anticipated buyout deal, he will step down to assume a consulting role.

BMW goes long