St. Pete moved to April

NTT IndyCar Series has chosen to push the race in St. Petersburg, Florida to 25 April, instead of the original early March date.

The reasoning is the COVID-19 situation in Florida, where the organizers believe that there is a bigger chance of being able to run it in April instead.

That moves the Indycar season opener to 11 April at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama.

The 2020 edition of the St. Pete Grand Prix was pushed from March to October, since the pandemic hit for real, just as the teams had set everything up in the paddock, so they didn’t even make it to the track, before the organizers told them to pack their trailers and leave the areas as fast as possible.

St Pete start 2019
Photo: JJ Media

The end of April opened up, since the Long Beach race was pushed back to September, with the organizers on the west coast having more confidence in fall city race.

The big advantage to Barber is that it’s a normal Road Course, in the middle of the country side, and thereby isolated from the citizens, and it would be possible to limit the spectators, in case that is needed.

The NTT IndyCar Series still have 17 races on their schedule, split into 15 race weekends. Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host three races during the 2021 season, with two races on the infield, and of course the Indianapolis 500 itself on the oval.

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