Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Will Power has been on a whirlwind celebratory tour of his native Australia for the past week.
Now, Power’s return to his homeland may also be the start of a different kind of return to Australia, that of IndyCar racing.
According to Australian motorsports site Speedcafe.com, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is eager to discuss a revival of IndyCar returning to race in the popular Gold Coast area as soon as 2020.
After meeting with Power, Palaszczuk took to Twitter to ask Australian racing fans, “Should the IndyCars return to the Gold Coast?”
Should the IndyCars return to the Gold Coast? Yesterday I met with home-grown Indy 500 champ @12WillPower who’s as revved up as I am about the idea. I’m inviting IndyCar bosses to the GC to see if we can accelerate a revival of the event. #goldcoast #Indy500 #qldpol pic.twitter.com/fYef60DGoY
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 30, 2018
She also tweeted Power is “as revved up as I am about the idea” of the American open-wheel series making a return to Australia, and added “I’m inviting IndyCar bosses to the GC (Gold Coast) to see if we can accelerate a revival of the event.”
According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, Palaszczuk has reportedly already invited IndyCar parent company CEO Mark Miles to Australia to discuss bringing the series back.
“I used to go to Indy, I can remember the tens of thousands of people that would go to Indy, it brought a lot of investment into the city and a huge entourage of fans from Southeast Asia and North America,” Palaszczuk told the Bulletin. “It’s early days but it would be wonderful if we can get this signature event back in Australia and I’d love to hear what Gold Coasters think.”
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Palaszczuk is already scoping out a potential race date in February, according to Speedcafe. IndyCar previously raced in Australia in past years from 1991 through 2008 in either March or April.
Other than its annual race in Toronto, IndyCar has not raced outside North America since 2012 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.