The NTT IndyCar Series has really shaken up the schedule for the 2020 season.
The reason for the huge changes is, of course, the COVID-19 virus, which already has eaten up the first races of the calendar.
Latest news from Indycar is the two events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the Indy 500, will be moved to later in the season.
The Detroit races at the end of May are still on the schedule, followed by Texas Motor Speedway. The Road America and Richmond races keep their June dates, while the GMR Grand Prix will run on 4 July.
That will be a huge event for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with IndyCar and NASCAR Xfinity sharing the track. Borth series will race on the infield, utilizing Turn 1 and start-finish, as we saw in Formula 1 and MotoGP amongst others. That can give a huge boost for both series, where Xfinity already has the big scoop of Tony Stewart making his NASCAR return, after several years of retirement.
The series moves on the planned races on the streets of Toronto and Iowa Speedway in July, while all of August has been completely changed.
Photo: Indycar.com / Chris Owens
The Mid-Ohio race has been moved forward one week to the 9 August. The reason is the Indy 500 taking up the racing from 12 August until 23 August. Those one and a half weeks contains the usual practice and qualifying sessions, while the race itself is run on 23 August.
One more oval is scheduled for the following weekend at the Gateway oval, which has been pushed back one week due to the Indy 500.
September has Portland and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on their original dates, while St. Petersburg has popped up as a TBD as the season finale. That should originally have been the season opener, but the series and the city will try to get it back on the 2020 schedule anyway – but as the season finale, since there are no gaps until then.
It is really tough to say if these will be the last changes to the schedule, since a lot of things can happen during the next 2 months. Detroit is a street circuit after all, with the remodelling of the streets having to start some weeks prior to the event, and if people are not allowed to leave their homes, which is the current status in several areas of the USA, it will be really tough to get that done. It’s a bit easier with an oval or permanent race circuits like Texas and Road America later in June.
But will this next schedule be the final version, we will only lose Long Beach, COTA and Barber Motorsports Park from this year’s running – if St. Petersburg gets a spot.
The full updated schedule looks like this:
Saturday, May 30
Streets of Detroit Race 1
Sunday, May 31
Streets of Detroit Race 2
Saturday, June 6
Texas Motor Speedway
Sunday, June 21
Road America
Saturday, June 27
Richmond Raceway
Saturday, July 4
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
Sunday, July 12
Streets of Toronto
Saturday, July 18
Iowa Speedway
Sunday, Aug. 9
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Sunday, Aug. 23
Indianapolis 500 Mile Race
Sunday, Aug. 30
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
Sunday, Sept. 13
Portland International Raceway
Sunday, Sept. 20
WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca
TBD Expected Finale
Streets of St. Petersburg
