IndyCar strikes road race from Toronto to Markham for 2026

“Markham, begin your engines! The Indy race is coming to our metropolis!” exclaimed an excited Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti whereas asserting at this time that the IndyCar Collection will transfer its Canadian occasion from Toronto to a brand-new road circuit in Markham starting in 2026.

Toronto’s Exhibition Place has been house to IndyCar racing in its numerous varieties since 1986. Nonetheless, as a consequence of logistical challenges offered by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the occasion wanted a brand new location. In consequence, its promoter Inexperienced Savoree Race Promotions, IndyCar, and the Metropolis of Markham have joined forces to create a brand new venue. This transfer isn’t just a short lived answer — the Markham occasion is a part of a multi-year settlement beginning subsequent August.

Markham, situated simply northeast of Toronto in York Area, is without doubt one of the fastest-growing communities in Ontario, with a inhabitants of greater than 1.25 million. The race will happen in Markham Centre, town’s bustling downtown hub, which is house to quite a few company headquarters, York College’s Markham Campus, and the famend Markham Pan Am Centre, a key venue in the course of the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Video games.

The brand new location gives wonderful entry for followers by way of Freeway 407 and different main 400-series highways, in addition to the Unionville GO Station and the VIVA Fast Transit system. Organizers count on the Ontario Honda Sellers Indy at Markham to turn into the biggest sports activities and cultural occasion in York Area’s historical past, drawing over 140,000 attendees in the course of the three-day weekend and producing tens of hundreds of thousands in financial impression by tourism, hospitality, and occasion companies.

“It is a main milestone for the Metropolis of Markham, which formally turns into the beginning line for the Ontario Honda Sellers Indy at Markham in 2026. We’re thrilled and honored to be named because the host metropolis for this prestigious, world-class, three-day auto racing occasion,” Scarpitti mentioned in the course of the press convention.

“Round this time subsequent yr, the Ontario Honda Sellers Indy at Markham will remodel the streets of our metropolis right into a racing crucible, testing the bounds of a number of the world’s quickest drivers and welcoming followers from across the globe to look at all of it unfold.”

Particulars on the brand new circuit

The short-term road circuit shall be inbuilt Markham’s jap downtown precinct, bordered by Kennedy Street, Enterprise Boulevard, the Unionville GO tracks, and Freeway 407. Designed by famend monitor architect Tony Cotman of NZR Consulting, the 12-turn, 2.19-mile format will function a double-sided pit lane, lengthy high-speed straights, and difficult technical sections. Preparatory work on the circuit and surrounding pageant website is already underway in collaboration with Metrolinx and different native companions.

“We couldn’t be extra happy to see the wealthy historical past of NTT IndyCar Collection racing proceed in Ontario,” mentioned Penske Leisure President and CEO Mark Miles. “Markham is a rising, various, and dynamic metropolis that may present a terrific showcase for our exhilarating wheel-to-wheel racing. I want to thank Mayor Frank Scarpitti for this thrilling new partnership and Jeff Atkinson and the group at Inexperienced Savoree Toronto for his or her management. It’s essential for INDYCAR to keep up a robust reference to our Canadian followers, and we merely can not look ahead to this new chapter to start subsequent yr.”

Jeff Atkinson, president of the Ontario Honda Sellers Indy at Markham, added: “Inexperienced Savoree Toronto is proud to announce a multi-year settlement with the Metropolis of Markham to turn into the brand new house of this long-standing Ontario motorsports custom. We sit up for a robust and profitable partnership with Mayor Scarpitti, his group on the Metropolis of Markham, and IndyCar. The inaugural Ontario Honda Sellers Indy at Markham will construct on the legacy of this occasion, which first started in 1986. We are able to’t wait to welcome our followers, the drivers, and race groups to this incredible new venue in Markham Centre subsequent August.”