The organizers of the Long Beach Grand Prix has chosen to push back the 2021 edition to September.
The race was originally scheduled for April, but due to the COVID-19, the organizers think it’s more realistic to run the race between 24 and 26 of September.
The 2020 races were cancelled, since COVID-19 made it impossible.
This has an effect on both the NTT IndyCar Series and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedules being moved around.
IMSA will have to move their spring race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca too, since the teams don’t want to travel to the west coast twice in a year.
That makes the race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for sportscars run on 10-12 September – one week prior to Indycar visiting the venue.
Long Beach will be the new season finale for the Indycar series, taking that honour from WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The change of dates will create some problems for those drivers, who are planning to double up on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship, since Long Beach will clash with the WEC race at Fuji in Japan. There is a scheduling conflict already between the Detroit race, and the scrutineering and test day ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will start their 2021 at Daytona in one month time, while the NTT IndyCar Series will open their season in March in St. Petersburg, Florida.