IndyCar Rumors

IndyCar back to Laguna Seca?

Autoracing1

UPDATE #2 While the last update to this rumor was to 'false' there is still speculation that the 16th and possibly 17th race to be added to the 2012 IndyCar schedule could see IndyCar back at Laguna Seca after the Fontana race and before the rumored season finale on the streets of Las Vegas. However, Grand-Am is there the week before Fontana and that would mean possibly moving that race two or three weeks later to run as a doubleheader with IndyCar. Sound complicated?

09/30/11 This rumor is downgraded to 'false' today. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca released their 2012 schedule today and there is no IndyCar race weekend on it. It could be added, but it's unlikely at this point.

· May 11-12, American Le Mans Series
· May 18-20, Ferrari Racing Days
· July 13-14, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series
· July 27-29, Red Bull United States Grand Prix featuring the MotoGP World Championship
· August 17-19, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

The last time IndyCars ran at Laguna Seca is when ChampCar was there in 2007 with their new Panoz car. Sebastian Bourdais (above) turned a lap faster than the Toyota F1 car. The lap record won't be in jeopardy with the current slug of an IndyCar, the mastermind of Brian Barnhart

09/20/11 According to AR1.com sources in the SCCA World Challenge, they will be back at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca next year, but with IndyCar. Of course that is the same weekend that ALMS is at Laguna Seca and so we assume the ALMS race will run on Saturday and IndyCar on Sunday. If true, that may not bode well for IndyCar returning to nearby Infineon Raceway unless the two races are separated by several months.

There was some doubt after this year's Infineon IndyCar race whether the series would return to the SMI owned road course. That could move the California race for IndyCar to Mid-September, opening up late August for the China race as rumored in Japan.

So the hypothetical 2012 IndyCar schedule could now look like this:

  1. March 11 – Porto Alegre, Brazil – street course
  2. March 25 – St. Petersburg, FL – street/airfield course
  3. April 1 – Birmingham, AL – road course
  4. April 15 – Long Beach, CA – street course
  5. April 29 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – street course
  6. May 27 – Indianapolis, IN – oval track
  7. June 3 – Detroit, MI – road course
  8. June 9 – Ft. Worth, TX – oval track (Sat night TWIN race)
  9. June 17 – Loudon, NH – oval track
  10. June 24 – Newton, IA – oval track (Sat night race)
  11. July 8 – Toronto, Canada – street course
  12. July 22 – Edmonton, Canada – street course
  13. August 5 – Lexington, OH – road course
  14. August 19 – Qingdao, China – street course
  15. September 2 – Baltimore, MD – street course
  16. September 15 – Fontana, CA – oval track (Sat Night Race)
  17. September 23 – Laguna Seca, CA – road course
  18. September 30 – Sparta, KY – oval track
  19. October 13-14 – Las Vegas, NV – oval track & street course (TWIN race?)