The topic of IndyCar taking a go to south of the Rio Grande has been a scorching matter since NASCAR launched plans in August to have a race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – the similar monitor the place Technique 1’s Mexican Grand Prix is held.
That stock automotive event will occur all through 14-15 June subsequent 12 months on a shortened 14-turn construction, with drivers going correct at Flip 4 as an alternative of left, skipping Turns 5 and 6 of the overall configuration.
It’s going to be NASCAR’s first points-paying Cup Assortment race in Mexico Metropolis, with the Xfinity Assortment beforehand racing on the monitor 4 situations between 2005-08.
There hasn’t been an IndyCar presence in Mexico since 2007, which received right here under the Champ Vehicle interval on the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.
“We’ve got been in discussions with IndyCar,” acknowledged Alejandro Soberón, the president of Mexico Metropolis GP promoter CIE.
“They’d been proper right here sooner than in Mexico. Subsequent 12 months, NASCAR is coming to Mexico. They’re going exterior america for the first time. There’s a lot of pleasure. It’s a completely fully totally different form of race and championship.”
One different ingredient that bolsters potentialities for an IndyCar return is the surge of curiosity in Pato O’Ward, a Mexico native from Monterrey who drives for Arrow McLaren.
Race winner Sebastien Bourdais, Newman Haas Lanigan Racing
{Photograph} by: Dan R. Boyd / Motorsport Images
25-year-old O’Ward, who obtained three IndyCar races this earlier season and as well as received right here inside two corners of worthwhile the Indianapolis 500, achieved his first FP1 working of the 2024 F1 season at his residence event ultimate Friday as definitely certainly one of two required youthful driver courses.
Sliding into the cockpit of Lando Norris’s MCL38, he accomplished merely 0.3s behind team-mate Oscar Piastri after logging 21 laps inside the one-hour session.
It was shared that O’Ward acquired comparable help as Sergio Perez, the one Mexican who competes full-time in F1, with over 3,000 followers attending a present sponsor look on the Plaza Reforma 222 procuring heart in downtown Mexico Metropolis.
“We’ve got now organize conversations with IndyCar in January to contemplate 2026,” Soberón added. “In reality, Pato is a gigantic take into account all that.”
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