Australian IndyCar race “could be done for February 2020”

Miles, who over the years has seen the series get its fingers burned by premature announcements over insecure race dates, some years ago adopted a very reticent stance when it came to making pronouncements over speculative events.

It was therefore unusual for him, during a press conference regarding NBC's exclusive and expanded IndyCar coverage in 2019, to volunteer a comment over IndyCar’s potential return to Australia, a possibility that has blossomed since last October.

Miles told media this afternoon: “We are working hard, and it was made public by the premier of Queensland in Australia on the possibility of having a return to Surfers Paradise in Queensland on the Gold Coast.

“If that's possible, it could be done for probably February of 2020. That's work that is very intensified right now and is something that hopefully might be achieved and finalized in the next couple of months.

“There's a possibility to promote a great event.”

IndyCar last went to Surfers Paradise in 2008 for an end-of-season non-championship race, fulfilling the recently defunct Champ Car World Series’ contract following the CCWS/Indy Racing League merger in February of that year.

The event ran from 1991 to 2007 as a round of the CART Indy car series, then Champ Car World Series, and – supported by what was then called the V8 Supercars – attracted over 300,000 fans to the Gold Coast over the course of the four days, even in Champ Car's twilight years.