Edmonton Indy

The Edmonton Indy was a round of the IndyCar Series held at a temporary circuit set up at the Edmonton City Centre Airport near the downtown area of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was formerly called the Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton and was a round of the Champ Car World Series. It was one of three Champ Car races added to the 2008 IndyCar Series following the merger of the two American open-wheel racing series.

Not to be confused with Edmonton International Speedway or Edmonton International Raceway.
Edmonton Indy
IndyCar Series
LocationEdmonton City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
53°34′32″N 113°31′22.5″W
First race2005
First ICS race2008
Last race2012
Laps75
Previous namesWest Edmonton Mall Grand Prix (2005)
West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix Presented by The Brick (2006)
Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton (2007)
Rexall Edmonton Indy (2008–2009)
Honda Indy Edmonton (2010)
Edmonton Indy (2011–2012)
Most wins (driver)Sébastien Bourdais (2)
Scott Dixon (2)
Will Power (2)
Most wins (team)Penske Racing (3)
Circuit information
SurfaceConcrete
Length3.579 km (2.224 mi)
Turns13

History

The inaugural race was held in 2005 and was known as the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix. It was known in 2006 as the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix Presented by The Brick. In 2007, Katz Group signed with the Grand Prix of Edmonton as the race's lead sponsor. In 2010, Honda Canada Inc. was the title sponsor of the race.[1] There was no title sponsor in 2011.

During the 2010 race weekend, it was announced that Octane Motorsports Events from Montreal, promoter of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and the NASCAR Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, was taking over as the new promoter. In November, the City and the promoter not being able to reach an agreement concerning pavement work to be done on the Eastern runway of City Centre Airport, where the race course was to be moved, the event was cancelled. Further negotiations had the race returned on the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule for July 22–24. On February 8, 2011, the promoter unveiled the new racecourse (13-turn, 3.579 km)[2] which received rave reviews from several IndyCar drivers.

On September 21, 2012, Octane Motorsports announced that they will not stage the 2013 race due to poor attendance and lack of support from local businesses. City officials have said that they do not plan to look for a replacement promoter.[3][4]

Festivities

2005
Further information: 2005 West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton
Paul Tracy at the Edmonton Grand Prix 2006.

The 2005 race festivities took place from July 15 through July 17, 2005.

2006
Further information: 2006 West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton

In 2006, there were 3 support series events. The Champ Car Atlantic Championship series, the CASCAR series, and D-Sport Drifting Demo. The 2006 race festivities took place from July 21 through July 23, 2006. The CASCAR race event took place on Saturday, July 22, 2006. The Champ Car Atlantic Championship race, the Champ Car World Series race, and the D-Sport Drifting Demo all took place on Sunday, July 23, 2006.

2007
Further information: 2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton

The 2007 race festivities took place from July 20 through July 22, 2007. The Northern Alberta Sports Car Club held GT and Vintage class support races also.

2008
Further information: 2008 Rexall Edmonton Indy
The former track layout in relationship to the rest of the airport

The 2008 race festivities took place July 24 through July 26, 2008. There were also 2 support series events, the Atlantic Championship series and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. The IndyCar Series race took place on Saturday and not Sunday in 2008 because of an agreement between the IRL and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. By agreement, the IRL is not permitted to race opposite the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

2009
Further information: 2009 Rexall Edmonton Indy

Held on July 26, 2009 it was the eleventh round of the 2009 IndyCar Series season.

2010
Further information: 2010 Honda Indy Edmonton
A new track from the 2011.

The race festivities took place from July 23 through July 25, 2010. There were three support series at this event, the Indy Lights Series, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and the Northern Alberta Sports Car Championship. In addition, there were also a demonstration provided by D-Sport Drifting.

This year also saw the creation of an off the track event team called Race Week Edmonton. This all volunteer team's mandate was to assist in promoting the Honda Edmonton Indy with various events such as car shows, a go kit derby, autoslalom, and a large slate of music events.

2011
Further information: 2011 Edmonton Indy

The race festivities took place from July 22 through July 24, 2011. However, steady rainfall saw the cancellation of all on-track events on July 22. This caused Indy Lights and IndyCar practice sessions to be moved to July 23. There were two support series at this event, the Indy Lights Series and the Northern Alberta Sports Car Championship. Unlike previous years, the Indy Lights Series ran two races with one on Saturday and one on Sunday, these were known as the Edmonton Twin 100s Race.

This event also saw the debut of a new course, moving from the western runways to the eastern runways of the City Centre Airport. This was caused by redevelopment of airport lands by the City of Edmonton. As well, Octane Motorsports took over the promoting of the race from Northlands declined to continue to run the race. This caused a temporary cancellation of the event in November, 2011. During this cancellation, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series released their schedule and saw Edmonton not scheduled for the 2011 season.

2012
Further information: 2012 Edmonton Indy

The 2012 Edmonton Indy race was the eleventh round of the 2012 IndyCar Series season. Indy Lights and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series also took place. It took place on Sunday, July 22, 2012. Hélio Castroneves won in the IndyCar Series, Carlos Muñoz won in the Indy Lights series, and D. J. Kennington won in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.[5]

The 2012 Edmonton Indy was the last in Edmonton. The city had spent over $12 million[6][7] over the last three years and a total of $22 million over eight years.[7] Beginning in 2008 the non-profit organization Northlands ran the Indy for three years, losing $12.5 million.[6] There was also drop in attendance for the event over the last few years; the INDYCAR company forbids releasing attendances numbers.[5][6] This also played a part in the decision to cancel.

Past winners
Season Date Driver Team Chassis Engine Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)		 Report
Laps Miles (km)
Champ Car World Series history
2005 July 17 Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Lola Ford-Cosworth 88 173.624 (279.42) 1:38:55 105.302 Report
2006 July 23 Justin Wilson RuSPORT Lola Ford-Cosworth 85 167.705 (269.895) 1:40:30 100.112 Report
2007 July 22 Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Panoz Cosworth 96 189.408 (304.822) 1:45:41 107.517 Report
IndyCar Series history
2008 July 26 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 91* 179.543 (288.946) 1:51:06 96.967 Report
2009 July 26 Will Power Penske Racing Dallara Honda 95 187.435 (301.647) 1:42:42 109.498 Report
2010 July 25 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda 95 187.435 (301.647) 1:50:37 101.666 Report
2011 July 24 Will Power Penske Racing Dallara Honda 80 180.48 (290.454) 1:57:23 90.949 Report
2012 July 22 Hélio Castroneves Penske Racing Dallara Chevrolet 75 169.2 (272.301) 1:38:51 101.246 Report
  • 2008: Race shortened due to time limit.

Atlantic Championship
Season Date Winning Driver
2005 July 17 Katherine Legge
2006 July 23 Simon Pagenaud
2007 July 21 Raphael Matos
July 22 Raphael Matos
2008 July 25 Jonathan Bomarito
July 26 Jonathan Summerton

Firestone Indy Lights
Season Date Winning Driver
2009 July 25 J. R. Hildebrand
2010 July 25 James Hinchcliffe
2011 July 23 Esteban Guerrieri
July 24 Josef Newgarden
2012 July 21 Carlos Muñoz

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series
Season Date Winning Driver
2007 July 21 J. R. Fitzpatrick
2008 July 26 Alex Tagliani
2009 July 25 Andrew Ranger
2010 July 25 J. R. Fitzpatrick
2012 July 22 D.J. Kennington

Attendance

In its inaugural year (2005), Edmonton set the attendance record for a Champ Car event in Canada at 200,052.[8]

Year Race Day 3-Day Total
2005 78,080 200,052
2006 63,921 171,391
2007 60,508 167,152
2008 60,000* 160,000*

* Estimate[9]

From 2008 onwards, event organizers have refused to disclose attendance figures due to an agreement with the Indy Racing League.[8][10][11]

References
  1. "Honda named as title sponsor of Edmonton Indy". ctvedmonton.ca. 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  2. Lewandowski, Dave (8 February 2011). "Edmonton Indy launches on new course". IndyCar.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  3. "Edmonton Indy race crashes and burns, says city". Edmonton Sun. Sun Media. September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  4. "Edmonton IndyCar race folds". Associated Press. The Globe and Mail. September 21, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  5. "Race Review". IndyCar. INDYCAR. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. "Edmonton Indy cancelled". The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  7. Klinkenberg, Marty; Klingbeil, Cailynn (20 September 2012). "End of the line for Edmonton Indy". Postmedia Network Inc. The Edmonton Jornal. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  8. Jones, Terry (2009-07-19). "IndyCar Review". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
  9. Martin, Bruce (July 28, 2008). "Little ado about something". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  10. "Promoter: Edmonton Indy returning". The Canadian Press. Sportsnet.ca. January 11, 2011. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  11. Collum, Robert (July 28, 2008). "Capital Ex attendance confidential". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
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