Will Surfers be a point paying race?

The IRL is set to revise its previously announced 16-race schedule to include the Surfers Paradise race on the Gold Coast of Australia and the Edmonton event in Canada. However, the contract with Chicagoland as the season-ending IRL race makes it difficult to extend the season past its scheduled end in September.

Former deputy premier and Gold Coast Indy chairman Terry Mackenroth said the Surfers event would always be held in October.

He said he was confident the full complement of drivers and teams would contest this year's event.

"It will be part of a series. We are yet to negotiate what the makeup of that is. But it won't be an exhibition race," he told reporters in Brisbane.

A decision on the standing of the Gold Coast race will be made in the next month, Mr. Mackenroth said.

Queensland Sports Minister Judy Spence said the government would not spend more than the $11 million it has in previous years on the event under the new contract.

The confirmation of the race's future will help secure a new naming rights sponsor, following Lexmark's decision not to renew its deal last year, Gold Coast Indy general manager Greg Hooton said.