IndyCar announces 17 race schedule for 2022 season

IndyCar

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The 17 race schedule for the 2022 IndyCar Series was officially announced in a press conference on Sunday morning, confirming the return of Iowa Speedway and the street race at Exhibition Place in Toronto – as well as the earliest start to a season in 18 years.

The season will begin in February – for the first time in 2004 – on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The series’ annual visit to Texas Motor Speedway has been moved forward, to 20 March. The 1.5 mile superspeedway oval, which held two races in 2021, will go back to a single 600-kilometre race for 2022. Afterwards, the Grand Prix of Long Beach returns to its traditional spring calendar placement for the third round on 10 April, and then Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama will host the fourth round, on 1 May.

The month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will once again feature the spring race around the IMS road course on 15 May, and the crown jewel of the series, the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500, takes place on 29 May.

Immediately after the Indianapolis 500, the series heads to Belle Isle Raceway in Detroit on 5 June. But unlike the double header format of recent years, the Detroit Grand Prix will consist of just one race in 2022. Following that, the series moves to Road America in Wisconsin, on 12 June.

Following a two week break, a dense second half of the season begins on 3 July at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Indy Toronto, which has been omitted from the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, returns to the IndyCar calendar on 17 July. The following week, the series returns to Iowa for a previously confirmed double header, consisting of a 250 lap race on 23 July, and a 300 lap race on 24 July. The series’ second visit to the Indianapolis road course will take place on 30 July, again sharing the weekend with the NASCAR Cup series during their “Brickyard” event. The streets of Nashville, Tennessee will host the second Music City Grand Prix on 7 August.

The season winds down with the 500km race at Gateway Motorsports Park on 20 August, then finishes on the west coast with the Grand Prix of Portland on 4 September, then the Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway on 11 September.

“This is an excellent schedule for the 2022 IndyCar Series championship,” said Mark Miles, the President and CEO of Penske Entertainment Corporation. “This calendar provides a level of balance between temporary street circuits, road courses and ovals, and that variety and required versatility from our drivers are important, distinguishing attributes of IndyCar Series racing.

“The continuity among our events and the growth in the number of teams showcase our strong positioning and continued momentum.”

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2022 IndyCar Series Calendar

DateCircuit
27 FebruaryStreets of St. Petersburg
20 MarchTexas Motor Speedway
10 AprilStreets of Long Beach
1 MayBarber Motorsports Park
15 MayIndianapolis Motor Speedway road course – IMS Grand Prix
29 MayIndianapolis Motor Speedway – 106th Indy 500
5 JuneRaceway at Belle Isle Park
12 JuneRoad America
3 JulyMid-Ohio Sports Car Course
17 JulyStreets of Exhibition Place, Toronto
23 JulyIowa Speedway Race 1 (250 laps)
24 JulyIowa Speedway Race 2 (300 laps)
30 JulyIndianapolis Motor Speedway road course – Brickyard GP
7 AugustStreets of Nashville
20 AugustGateway Motorsports Park
4 SeptemberPortland International Raceway
11 SeptemberLaguna Seca Raceway

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RJ O'Connell
Motorsport has been a lifelong interest for RJ, both virtual and ‘in the carbon’, since childhood. RJ picked up motorsports writing as a hobby...

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14 comments on “IndyCar announces 17 race schedule for 2022 season”

  1. One Indy GP would be enough. The GP version is not the best track for IndyCar. They could use different layouts for the two GP races to make it more interesting. I wish they used the banking like F1 did.

    1. Agreed about not using the same course for the Indy GP. It’s fine for places like Detroit for dual races on one weekend, but that many months apart makes me want to see a different layout. And I think going back to the banking like the old F1 course is a slick idea.

      Also, not in this article, but the Toronto race will be live only on their Peacock streaming service. Boo! I’m not interested in any of their exclusive content on Peacock. And I hope they don’t get really silly and not show the race at all on their family of channels. At least if I can see the race that night on NBC/NBCSN/USA/CNBC I’ll be happy.

  2. For everyone outside the US, the biggest story of this schedule is that an incredible FOURTEEN races will be broadcasted on network TV. My closest equivalent is imagine 14 F1 races on BBC instead of on Sky Sports.

  3. The lack of Sonoma is a big disappointment.
    I also see no point in doing Indy GP track twice.

    1. Absolutely agree with you on Sonoma, what a great track, especially the full configuration. I guess we’re doing the Indy GP twice because Penske essentially owns both IMS and Indycar ;)

    2. Laguna Seca is only about 2 1/2 hours away from Sonoma- they have to cover the market. Sonoma is a great track but they have a NASCAR Cup round.

  4. Nell (@imabouttogoham)
    20th September 2021, 1:32

    What are all these gaps of weeks between races?!

    As an F1 fan I am shocked! /s

    1. Real f1 fans understand the reverse grid sprint decaheader is the only way forward for f1

  5. Anyone remember when IndyCar / Champcar was 20 races a season and F1 only had 17 … ??

  6. Why the calendar has to be so short in terms of months?

    How indy want to increase of they want to be 6 months per year out ot TV and Media (from september do february)?

    1. I agree but they like to get the season finished before the US Fiotball season starts. I just wish that they wouldn’t finish at Laguna. It’s an awesome racetrack but the races there tend to be a bit of a foregone conclusion (Grosjean excepted!).

  7. I hate that they have so many three breaks in between races.
    Why race in February and then wait three weeks for the second race, third and fourth Race.
    Only reason I can see with putting St Pete into February is to make sure many of the Snow Birds (Winter residents from up north) are still there and they can fill up the Grandstands.
    As a driver, it has to be rough having all of those major gaps between races. It has to be difficult to get into a rhythm.
    Plus Indycar is not doing itself any favors as far as growth goes. There are many many Race tracks in the US that they could go to.
    And the second Indy Road course race is only because of the success it had racing there with NASCAR, where they raced on Saturday and NASCAR on Sunday.
    Why are they not returning to COTA?
    They always test at Sebring, but never actually race there.
    How about trying out Daytona Road course, Watkins Glenn, Carolina Motorsports Park, NCM Motorsports Park?
    Lots of possibilities, always sticking with the same.

  8. Why, why would they continue to have a race in Nashville on early August? That is a dreadfully hot time of year there… April 24 would have been better. Also the calendar should have Homestead-Miami (Saturday, February 6) Mexico City (March 27), Atlanta oval (September 25) and finally Watkins Glen (October 2) on it.

    1. Decided to add a few more
      1. Homestead Miami (February 5)
      2. Surfers Paradise (February 20)
      3. St Pete (March 6)
      4. Texas (March 13)
      5. Mexico City (March 27)
      6. Long Beach (April 10)
      7. Barber (April 24)
      8. Nashville (May 1)
      9. Indy GP (May 15)
      10. Indy 500 (May 29)
      11. Detroit (June 4 and 5)
      12. Road America (June 12)
      13. Iowa (June 26)
      14. Mid-Ohio (July 10)
      15. Toronto (July 17)
      16. Mont-Tremblant (July 24)
      17. Donington Park (August 7)
      18. Gateway (August 20)
      19. Portland (September 4)
      20. Laguna Seca (September 11)
      21. Atlanta Oval (September 25)
      22. Watkins Glen (October 2)

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