Radical idea that could bring IndyCar back to Australia

A potential tie-up between IndyCar and Supercars was flagged by Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles back in September.

According to Miles, the US open-wheel series is looking to hold a number of non-championship rounds outside of North America – and outside of the regular IndyCar season – in the future.

Australia is on the wish list with the Adelaide street circuit a feasible option thanks to the November date for its Supercars round.

The SAMB, which promotes what is now known as the Adelaide Grand Final, is aware of the interest from IndyCar, and open to helping bring the series back to Australian shores.

“We look at all sorts of things in terms of motorsport options,” SAMB chief executive Mark Warren told Speedcafe.

“The whole reason we went down the Speedway and also Supercross paths is to look at different types of motorsports we can bring to South Australia.

“IndyCar is a really interesting one in that it’s obviously got a history in Australia, having been up on the Gold Coast previously. So if that was an opportunity for Adelaide to look at doing something with IndyCar, we’d definitely look at it.”

Should a deal be struck between IndyCar, Supercars and the SAMB, it wouldn’t necessarily mean the two series would race in Adelaide on the same weekend.

According to Warren, it could be that it’s a double-header scenario, to give the Supercars Grand Final clear air.

“We’d need to work out how that fits with Supercars,” he added.

“They’ve worked together before on the Gold Coast, but I think it would be looking at how you couple that together, because you’ve now got the Supercars Grand Final.

“I’m not sure that you could do the two events together. So it would be working out, having built this street circuit, how we could possibly use that over a couple of weekends.”

As mentioned by Warren, IndyCar’s Australian history is closely linked to the Gold Coast.

An extended version of the Surfers Paradise street circuit hosted points-paying CART/IndyCar for years until the ‘Gold Coast Indy’ era came to an end in 2008.

Adelaide, meanwhile, has its own rich history of open-wheel racing on its streets, having hosted the Australian Grand Prix between 1985 and 1995.