IndyCar switching to virtual racing during coronavirus crisis
IndyCar driver Sage Karam talks to Fox News Autos about the IndyCar iRacing Challenge simulation racing series and the Indy 500’s move from May to August, due to the coronavirus crisis.
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The NTT IndyCar series is shaking up its schedule again after news that the Detroit Grand Prix has been canceled this year due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
(Brian Cleary/Getty Images)
The suspended season had been set to kick off in The Motor City on May 30, but will now begin at the Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, if there are no further disruptions.
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To make up for some of the events missed so far, the series will now hold double-header weekends in Iowa in July and at Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., in September. A second road course race has been added at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 3, with the first scheduled for Saturday, July 4, ahead of the NASCAR race on Indy’s oval on July 5.
It was announced last week that the Indianapolis 500 was being moved from May 23 to Aug. 23, which will be the first time it has ever been held outside of the month of May. Organizers of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla., which was supposed to be the season-opener on March 15, are still hoping to find a date to hold the race this year.
Along with many racing bodies, IndyCar has taken to organizing a simulation series with iRacing to fill in for the on-track action and plans to hold events competed by series regulars and guests every Saturday until the season resumes.