The IndyCar Series has announced that the first race of the 2020 season will take place at the Texas Motor Speedway on June 6.
Due to the coronavirus the series was forced to cancel the opening four rounds of the season, as well as postponing the Indianapolis 500 until August.
However, plans were today announced for the first race of the season to be held in a month's time, with practice, qualifying and the race set to held on one day behind closed doors at the 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We’re excited and ready to kick off the IndyCar Series season at Texas Motor Speedway,” IndyCar president Jay Frye said.
“We’ve worked closely with Eddie Gossage, the entire TMS team and public health officials on a plan of action that will ensure the safety of our event participants alongside an exciting return to competition for our drivers, teams and viewers tuning in from around the world.
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“America needs live sports and they are not going to believe what they see when the Genesys 300 storms into their living rooms on TV from Texas,” said Eddie Gossage, president and general manager of Texas Motor Speedway.
“One of the world’s greatest sporting events, the Indy 500, has been postponed until August by coronavirus, so all of that pent-up energy, anticipation, frustrations and anxiety will be pounding through the drivers’ nervous systems. Typically, the Genesys 300 results in a 220-mph photo finish.”
In order to make the event as safe as possible plans have been put in place to limit the number of trackside staff, while the race length has been reduced from 248 laps to 200.
The Texas race is set to be the first of a rearranged 15-round season scheduled to be completed in October.
