The race return is the latest sign of the gradual recovery of the Detroit Three automakers as traditional and expensive marketing techniques are redeployed.
Chevrolet today announced a multi-year agreement with the Penske Corporation and IndyCar to bring professional motorsports to the Motor City for the first time in four years. The first Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix will be held June 1-3, 2012 at a 2.1-mile Raceway at Belle Isle Park road course.
Detroit’s historic Belle Isle Park will host four races during the three-day event, including:
- The Chevrolet Indy Grand Prix presented by shopautoweek.com, where Chevrolet’s new twin-turbo V6 race engines will compete in the Izod IndyCar Series
- The Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Challenge where Chevrolet Daytona Prototypes and Camaros will compete in the first GRAND-AM Rolex Series race held on Belle Isle
- The Cadillac V-Series Challenge at Belle Isle, where Cadillac CTS-Vs will compete in the second Pirelli World Challenge series race held on Belle Isle
- The Firestone Indy Light Series race, featuring the rising stars of open-wheel racing
Team Penske and Andretti Autosport will use the new Chevy engines, as Chevy returns Indy Car racing for the first time since 2005. Both teams have run at the top of the standings for decades.
“Chevrolet has been instrumental in bringing motorsports back to Detroit,” said Penske Corp. Chairman Roger Penske. “The Grand Prix will draw international attention and visitors to Belle Isle – which is one of the most-scenic race venues in the United States. We believe the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix will be one of the most-popular races in the Izod IndyCar Series and will play a major role in continuing the renaissance of Detroit.”
The 2012 Indy Cars used next season will be lighter, faster and because of turbocharging, quieter, which might not be seen as am improvement by fans. (See also Honda Reveals Indy Car Refueling Interlock System)
Indy car racing claims it has developed a global audience. The 2011 Izod IndyCar Series, which concludes Oct. 16, includes 17 events in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Japan, reaching an estimated television audience of 191 million people in 200 countries.
Erik Berkman – President, Honda Performance Development
“For everyone in the Honda family, this is a day of tragedy and incalculable loss. For us, Dan was more than a driver; he was a member of the Honda family. But most of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, wife Susie and two young sons. Dan had a passion for motorsports and a wonderful personality that made him a friend to everyone in the racing community. His talent and dedication were an inspiration to us all. We will miss him terribly, and everyone at Honda extends our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and fans across the world.”
On Sunday 16 October the season-ending IZOD IndyCar Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was cancelled after a multi-car crash on Lap 11 resulted in fatal injuries for two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon.
Wheldon was one of 15 drivers involved in the collision, which took place in Turn Two, after relatively minor contact between two cars set off a large, chain-reaction crash. Running in the middle of the field, Wheldon’s car went airborne before making heavy impact with the retaining wall and catch fencing. He was airlifted to University Medical Center, where he succumbed from his injuries.
Wheldon was a mainstay of the Honda IndyCar program from his debut in 2003 with Andretti Green Racing. In 134 IndyCar race starts, he won 16 times, and recorded 93 top-10 results. Wheldon won the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 2005, going on to win the series championship that year, and won the 500 at the Brickyard again earlier this year. He also scored Honda’s first IndyCar victories at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, winning at the Honda-owned circuit in 2004 and again in 2005.
In addition to his parents and siblings, Weldon is survived by his wife, Susie, and sons Sebastian and Oliver.