Edmonton Will Not Feature On 2013 IndyCar Schedule

The IZOD IndyCar Series will unfortunately not return to Edmonton next season, after the venue’s 2013 promoters pulled out. Next season’s race was scheduled to be the last of the current deal, however Canada will now only feature one IndyCar race in 2013 around the streets of Toronto.

The Edmonton race was first held as a ChampCar event back in 2005, however when ChampCar merged with IndyCar in 2008 the race continued to feature on the IndyCar schedule alongside Toronto. This year’s winner was Helio Castroneves for Penske, in what will be remembered as the final IndyCar race at Edmonton.

However, Randy Bernard does not think the loss Edmonton will prevent IndyCar from meeting the minimum requirement of 19 races scheduled for next season. If this amount is met, next season’s IZOD IndyCar Series would be the longest in the history of the Series since its inauguration in 1996.

“When we finalized our schedule for the upcoming 2013 season, it unfortunately did not include Edmonton,” explained IndyCar’s CEO, Randy Bernard. “We thank the city of Edmonton and all the fans for their support of the event over the last eight years. More importantly this has not affected our plans for a minimum of 19 races next season, and we remain optimistic that we will return to having two races in Canada as early as 2014. We anticipate announcing our full 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule [in] the first week of October.”

Whether a second IndyCar race in Canada will be around Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, or a return of the Vancouver Indy, next season will see Toronto as the only Canadian IndyCar race. The new schedule for next season will include the return of the Grand Prix of Houston, as well as rumored races at Michigan, Pocono and Portland amongst others.

Picture Copyright © Getty Images