BBC to broadcast Rockingham 500 CART race.

Britain's fastest ever motor race, the Rockingham 500 CART event, will be shown on BBC2 Grandstand on Sunday 15th September, the day after the race is run at Rockingham Motor Speedway, near Corby in Northamptonshire.

Over an hour of Sunday Grandstand will be allocated to the race, round 15 of the CART FedEx Championship Series, known as "the fastest closed circuit racing in the world", acknowledging its position as one of Britain's premier sporting events of the year.

The BBC coverage will preview the race with footage, both from previous rounds of the Championship, and with archive material from last year's Rockingham 500, which was the fastest motor race ever held in the UK.

Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan posted the fastest lap of the weekend with an average speed of 215.397mph, covering the 1.5 mile banked oval circuit in just 24.7 seconds!

As last year, viewers will be treated to the sight of the turbocharged, single-seat racers howling through Rockingham's four banked corners at speeds of up to four miles per minute and genuine wheel-to-wheel racing.

The 2001 event saw a thrilling finish when winning driver Gil de Ferran snatched the lead on the last corner of the last lap to the cheers of 42,000 fans. As sports writer Brough Scott wrote after the event: "Even we hardened old hacks in the press room whooped with excitement."

No less than 14 track cameras, including two 'robocams' mounted on the crash wall surrounding the track, will ensure that not one millisecond of the action will be missed, while interviews with key personalities from America's premier series will give British viewers an in-depth insight into the spectacular sport. The BBC coverage will feature race commentary from the experienced pairing of Leigh Diffey and Jeremy Shaw.

"CART and Rockingham are pledged to make one of the greatest spectacles in British motor sport as accessible as possible to the widest audience" said David Grace, Chief Executive of Rockingham Motor Speedway. "We are delighted that sports fans up and down the country will be able to enjoy this access to the sport - and the BBC coverage will augment the existing coverage of the series on Sky Sports and Eurosport, to bring a great race to casual viewers and keen enthusiasts alike. They'd better fasten their seat belts!"