The Gold Coast Indy will remain a memory for the foreseeable future, based on fresh comments from IndyCar boss Mark Miles about the series’ international ambitions.
IndyCar/Champ Car has not graced the streets of the glitter strip since 2008 and Queensland Government-initiated talks with the category about a return a decade later ultimately came to nothing.
Since the most recent visit to Surfers Paradise, IndyCar has in fact further scaled back its international racing to Canada only, with its last race outside North America being in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2013.
On the other hand, its contingent of drivers is a diverse mix, with Spaniard Alex Palou winning the 2021 title, Frenchman Romain Grosjean topping Practice 1 for this weekend’s season-opener in St Petersburg, and 12 other nationalities represented in the field.
According to Miles, the CEO of Penske Entertainment Corporation, media rights fees outside of the United States are up by more than 40 percent relative to last year, which is “evidence that that [international] audience is there”.
However, he indicated that flyaway events are not under consideration anytime soon, and instead nominated Mexico as a possible addition to the calendar.
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“I think our strategy is that we’re going to continue to focus our racing in North America,” said Miles at the Grand Prix of St Petersburg.
“For those of you in Mexico City, you’ll know that we know that Mexico is in North America.
“In our minds in terms of timezone, in terms of the complexity of getting everything packed up and flying versus driving, it’s not really much different to go from Indianapolis – or even Charlotte or Houston or Chicago, where we have teams based – to Mexico than it is to go to Portland or California.
“We’ve long seen Mexico as a market where we could imagine racing.
“We’ve got to find the right place under the right circumstances, but we are interested in racing in Mexico if we can put all the pieces together.”
Practice 2 and Qualifying will be held tomorrow morning (AEDT), with live streaming on Stan Sport.
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