By Andrea Leite – With just three races to finish the season in IndyCar, “the guy in charge” of the series spoke exclusively to Diário Motorsport. He assessed the current season’s IZOD IndyCar Series and condoned changes. Acknowledges that there were “ups and downs” in 2012 and prepares response. The CEO Randy Bernard points to the introduction of the new car one of the highlights. In what refers to the television audience, that item joins the list of “low”.
“Our participation has been very good in most races this year. I am very happy with it. About our oval, there is an improvement over last year. I’d like to have seen greater increases in audience numbers, but when you look at our year, there are some things we can change and improve next year“, Bernard said the Diário Motorsport.
One of his goals is to expand the schedule from 15 to at least 19 races. “We must have a minimum of 19 races. This is very important“, designed Bernard. “We must be able to bring more attention to these drivers and their sponsors. We need to create conditions of exposure more interesting“. The 2012 calendar includes walking the steps of Sonoma (26 August), Baltimore (September 2) and Fontana, site of the grand final on September 15.
Bernard also said to be seeking to add “one or two oval” in the calendar next year. He said that all the items you want will fit in the gaps in current programming, without the need to anticipate the onset or delay the end of the season way too much. This year’s program began with St. Petersburg on March 25. Next year is the final race as a candidate for Houston, maybe the first week of October.
Bernard expressed his desire for a race in Europe, specifically Germany, but feels that the most important at the present time is to strengthen further the series in North America. The category will announce the 2013 schedule, but no date set. This will only happen after all the contracts with sponsors are finalized. The Diário Motorsport might know that, amid the general negotiations, changes in some existing evidence dates are on the agenda.
