Edmonton excited by Champ Car visit.

There may be over seven months until the Champ Car World Series arrives in Edmonton, but excitement is already building ahead of the race on 17 July.

The event was officially launched on 7 December and, in the week since then, the phones haven't stopped ringing as fans clamour for tickets for the event.

"The response has been absolutely beyond our wildest imagination," Edmonton Grand Prix general manager Greg MacDonald said. "We had 40 suites forecast in our original budget but we will have 80 sold by next week. Ticket sales have been great and we haven't even started selling general admission passes yet. The three-day ticket packages have been flying out of here."

Although the Canadian rounds on the calendar have always been popular with fans, executive vice president of development for the series Joe Chrnelich believes that the response from fans in Edmonton shows that the series is in a good position heading into 2005.

"Our Canadian markets have always been strong performers in terms of support for the Champ Car product," he said. "These early sales results in Edmonton however are nothing short of amazing and a credit to the promoter and the great City of Edmonton. This type of performance is also a great indication that Champ Car open wheel racing is on the move, has broadbase market appeal and is poised for business growth going into the 2005 season."