I wonder – if Will Power were to win the title, would Indycar consider a race in Australia?
There hasn’t been a public demand for the series to visit us ever since the Gold Coast was abandoned, but a lot of the drivers come down for the (gimmicky, I admit) Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercar event, which requires all cars to have an international driver alongside their regular driver. With two Australians and a Kiwi in the series full-time (and a second Kiwi, Wade Cunningham, running at Indianapolis this year), it wouldn’t be difficult to get public interest up. It would also make sense from the teams’ perspective if the organisers were trying to get the race in China back up and running – a second race on the same flyaway leg, this time in Australia, would help to split the costs.
The hard part would be finding the proper circuit to race at. Indycar has less-stenuous demands on circuits that Formula 1, which frees things up significantly, but that doesn’t mean organisers would be spoiled for choice. Most of our circuits are either
too small,
too stupid, or simply our own patented brand of
insane (awesome as that would be). Otherwise, a lot of the other circuits are jealously guarded by the V8 Supercars as the series’ marquee events, or have been destroyed (ie Oran Park, Amaroo, Warwick Farm) in the name of progress. But I think Indycar could quite reasonably race at
Phillip Island or The Circuit Formerly Known as
Prince Eastern Creek.
