source: DailyF1.com - Nick Raman
Chris Pook, President of the CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) competition, has given up trying to compare his series to Formula One, but has said he hopes it could become a breeding ground for Grand Prix talent. Pook's comments come after Champ Cars last weekend raced for the first time on a Formula One track, Montreal, home to the Canadian Grand Prix. The well-attended event was won by Dario Franchitti ahead of F1 aspirant Cristiano Da Matta. Pace of the cars were predictably slower than F1 machines - Da Matta's pole time of 1:18.959 was six seconds slower than Juan-Pablo Montoya's pole mark set earlier this year. This is due to Champ Cars weighing 150 kilograms more than Grand Prix cars and employing steel brakes, which are less powerful than the carbon devices in F1 machinery. Pook made clear that he did not think CART could be compared to F1, and said he would prefer to work with his European compatriots to develop talent. 'I'd love CART to be a feeder series for F1,' he told Canada's "Montreal Gazette". 'My predecessors thought that CART was an alternative to F1. I don't believe that. I'm 180 degrees from that. F1 is at a level and class of its own. We fit in somewhere below them. 'It would be great if we could develop drivers to go there.' Cristiano Da Matta was close to making the switch recently to join the Toyota team but contractual complications put paid to the move. However, Pook thought the Brazilian would be irresistible to Grand Prix teams if he continued to shine. 'Da Matta is awfully good and if he continues the outstanding performance that he has done here, I think it's going to be hard for the F1 teams to ignore him,' he said.
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