The IndyCar Series is ready to entertain talks of possibly staging a race to fill the void left in the wake of a failed collective effort by city, provincial and federal government officials to secure the future of the country’s only Formula One race.
“All it takes is a phone call to ask if we’re interested in looking at a potential date,” John Griffin, spokesperson for IndyCar Series president Tony George, said. “It’s something we would be open to discussing.”
Montreal officially lost the Grand Prix over the weekend after Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone rejected a counter offer from city and government officials that was more than $60 million less than the head of Formula One Administration Ltd. demanded for the city to keep the race through 2013.
Griffin, IndyCar Series vice president of public relations, revealed the IndyCar Series might already be in Montreal had not what at the time was described as a “handshake agreement” between the series and Legault, who holds the rights to the track, been honoured.
Griffin said Montreal “would be a nice destination for us,” but added following the unification of the two formal rival series there are numerous venues, former ones and new possibilities, to sort through. He said the schedule for June, July and August was “pretty tight” right now.
“We’re going to be at 18 races next year,” he said. “We really haven’t defined what the magic number is long term as far as the proper number of race for us, but we’ve talked anywhere from 18, 19 to 22 events.”
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