Preview to 2015 IndyCar Season: The Races

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar

The start of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar season was delayed three weeks due to the cancellation of the opening round in Brazil. Having planned to run the feature race on March 8th at Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, the round was withdrawn by promoters. Reportedly, government funding to the race was pulled resulting the IndyCar season having to wait until March 29th's race in St. Petersburg to open the 2015 series.

With 16 points-paying races including 'the month of May' festivities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series tour consists of ten road courses and six ovals.

Big Easy Debut

One new race venue added to the 2015 Verizon IndyCar tour is the series' first-ever stop in the state of Louisiana. To be held on a 13-turn, 2.74-mile course at NOLA Motorsports Park, the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana is taking place at facility opened just four years ago. Located in Avondale, the race track is only 20 minutes away from downtown New Orleans. NOLA Motorsports Park has previously hosted the AMA Pro Superbike Championship and the Cooper Tires Winterfest for USF2000 cars.

Big Moves

A change that will likely lead to some discourse with fans of IndyCar, the Fontana race is not going to be the final race in the season. The high-speed 500-mile event at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway has been moved to June 27th. The series will still end in California though with Sonoma Raceway hosting the 2015 IndyCar finale.

The Pocono Raceway event is the second-to-last race in the season on August 23rd after being held in early July in the two previous years. While Pocono Raceway's date has been moved deeper into the season, the race date for the Honda Indy Toronto has been pressed forward to June 14th. Having been held in July since its inception in 1986, the city street course event has been moved to accommodate the Pan-Am games that will be held in Toronto during July.

Double Dropping of Double Race Format

One major change coming in 2015 is the massive regression of the double-race weekend. The experiment has been dropped for the Toronto IndyCar event. The Houston race in Reliant Park was also a double-race for 2014 but the venue has been dropped completely from the 2015 calendar after two years.

The only remaining event to function with a double race formula for 2015 will be the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit on the Belle Isle circuit.

2015 IndyCar Series Schedule

Date Event Location Track Length/Layout

March 29	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, FL	1.8-mile street course
April 12	NOLA Motorsports Park	Avondale, LA	2.74-mile road course
April 19	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, CA	1.968-mile street course
April 26	Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, AL	2.38-mile road course
May 9	Grand Prix of Indianapolis	Indianapolis, IN	2.4346-mile road course
May 16-17	Indianapolis 500 Qualifying	Indianapolis, IN	2.5-mile oval
May 22	Carb Day	Indianapolis, IN	2.5-mile oval
May 24	Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis, IN	2.5-mile oval
May 30	Raceway at Belle Isle Park	Detroit, MI	2.35-mile street course
May 31	Raceway at Belle Isle Park	Detroit, MI	2.35-mile street course
June 6	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, TX	1.5-mile oval
June 14	Streets of Toronto	Toronto, Canada	1.75-mile street course
June 27	Auto Club Speedway	Fontana, CA	2-mile oval
July 12	The Milwaukee Mile	Milwaukee, WI	1-mile oval
July 18	Iowa Speedway	Newton, IA	.875-mile oval
Aug. 2	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, OH	2.258-mile road course
Aug. 23	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, PA	2.5-mile oval
Aug. 30	Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, CA	2.385-mile road course

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