Honda Indy Toronto will get world-wide coverage

The Honda Indy Toronto will join the Indianapolis 500 as one of five IndyCar Series races to receive world-wide television coverage in 2010, it was announced Tuesday.

ABC Sports laid out its schedule of race events for next season that will start with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and end with the Toronto race.

The remaining 12 races — including the Edmonton Rexall Indy in July — will be carried by the U.S.-based Versus network.

“We are very excited about the return of Versus and ABC for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season," Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division for the Indy Racing League, said in a statement released Tuesday.

“Having two television partners during the 2009 season assisted the growth [Growth? TV ratings plunged to record lows] of our sport and its accessibility to fans, and we have confidence that the 2010 season will reap even bigger gains with ABC’s and Versus’ enrichment of their already outstanding programming."