The subject of IndyCar taking a visit south of the Rio Grande has been a scorching matter since NASCAR introduced plans in August to have a race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – the identical monitor the place Method 1’s Mexican Grand Prix is held.
That inventory automotive occasion will happen throughout 14-15 June subsequent 12 months on a shortened 14-turn structure, with drivers going proper at Flip 4 as a substitute of left, skipping Turns 5 and 6 of the total configuration.
It is going to be NASCAR’s first points-paying Cup Collection race in Mexico Metropolis, with the Xfinity Collection beforehand racing on the monitor 4 instances between 2005-08.
There hasn’t been an IndyCar presence in Mexico since 2007, which got here below the Champ Automobile period on the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.
“We have been in discussions with IndyCar,” stated Alejandro Soberón, the president of Mexico Metropolis GP promoter CIE.
“They had been right here earlier than in Mexico. Subsequent 12 months, NASCAR is coming to Mexico. They are going exterior america for the primary time. There’s lots of pleasure. It is a utterly completely different kind of race and championship.”
One other ingredient that bolsters possibilities 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 Photographs
25-year-old O’Ward, who received three IndyCar races this previous season and in addition got here inside two corners of profitable the Indianapolis 500, accomplished his first FP1 working of the 2024 F1 season at his residence occasion final Friday as certainly one of two required younger driver classes.
Sliding into the cockpit of Lando Norris’s MCL38, he completed simply 0.3s behind team-mate Oscar Piastri after logging 21 laps within the one-hour session.
It was shared that O’Ward acquired comparable assist as Sergio Perez, the one Mexican who competes full-time in F1, with over 3,000 followers attending a current sponsor look on the Plaza Reforma 222 shopping center in downtown Mexico Metropolis.
“We have now arrange conversations with IndyCar in January to consider 2026,” Soberón added. “In fact, Pato is an enormous consider all that.”
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