The Brasilia Indy 300 was set to kick off the 2015 IndyCar campaign, but it sounds like that will not be the case.
Terracap, the government agency that owns the Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, where the inaugural race was to be held, announced Thursday that the event was to be cancelled.
This comes as a huge surprise, as photos containing updates of the renovation of the race surface have been consistently popping up - one of them being just yesterday.
Apparently, the decision to cancel the race is due to financial problems of the local area around the track. The financial side of things for the event itself didn't seem like they were to be an issue at all, according to IndyCar boss Mark Miles: "The track sold out all their hospitality, were delighted with ticket sales - sold 2/3rd of all seats with a month to go . . . It's a shame, it has nothing to do with the Verizon IndyCar Series, and we were all looking forward to a great start to the year in Brazil." He also added, "There's an appetite for our series in Brazil."
Keeping in mind that the first time the aero kits were to hit the track in racing competition at the St. Petersburg round, it can be said that some changes will come to the offseason testing within the series.
The opening round of the year in Brazil was to be the first race for IndyCar at the track in Brazil's capital, kicking off 2015 on March 8.
Certainly, more is to come on this new announcement, although INDYCAR has already released this statement:
Disappointing is a great word to describe the feeling fans of IndyCar have toward this news, as it was an event that was being looked forward to by everyone. The racing surface itself is completely torn up, as the track was being resurfaced, with plans for it to be complete in time for the IndyCar event that was to be the first race the series would have in the country since they used to race in the city of Sao Paulo, a temporary street course. As Mark Miles said, interest is high for IndyCar in Brazil, and it can't be much longer until, perhaps, a race is held at Brasilia - doesn't look like 2015 is that year.
The news was broken by http://racer.com on Thursday, also being reported by http://nextgenindy.com and about every large worldwide sports website. It is a huge story developing within the series that is getting set to get back to racing.
Stay tuned for updates.