‘Christmas in July’ is back as Toronto Indy returns to its old date

But IndyCar series can’t be convinced to resurrect popular race doubleheader

The annual Honda Indy Toronto will return to its traditional mid-July date in 2016, it was announced Tuesday, but despite efforts by the promoters to resurrect the popular doubleheader format featured in 2013 and ’14, there will just be one race.

Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., owners of IndyCar and the Verizon IndyCar Series, said Tuesday that the 2016 schedule would start on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 13 and conclude Sept. 18 on the Sonoma Raceway road course in California.

The 16 races in the series will feature the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29 and include three new events: the famous course at Road America in Wisconsin in June, the high-speed oval at Phoenix, Ariz., in April and a race through the streets of Boston on the Sunday of Labour Day weekend in September.

What IndyCar calls “the most diverse schedule in motorsports” will feature five races on oval speedways, five on permanent road courses and six on temporary street circuits, including the Honda Indy weekend, July 15-17.

Jeff Atkinson, newly-appointed president of the Toronto race, said that the “Honda Indy Toronto has been a summer staple for generations of Torontonians and festivalgoers from across Ontario and be- yond.”

Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe, the only Canadian currently driving in the IndyCar Series, missed the 2015 Toronto event after dodging death during a practice crash at Indianapolis in May. He is anxious to get back racing in front of his hometown fans.

“This obviously is such a special weekend for me,” he said.

“I remember coming to this race as a kid and really falling in love with IndyCar while I stood at the fence watching the cars,” said Hinchcliffe, driver of the Canadian co-owned No. 5 Arrow Electronics car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

“Now, to be able to come back on the other side of that fence and race in my hometown is awesome. The track, the city, the fans, everything about this weekend makes it the best stop on the calendar. I’m glad we got the old date back (the race was moved to June in 2015 to avoid a conflict with the Pan Am Games) because now it really is like Christmas in July again.”

Young drivers looking to reach the top of the IndyCar mountain will again be showcased as the entire Mazda Road to Indy ladder series will return, including the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires series, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.

Detroit will again be the only stop on the circuit to feature two races back-to-back on the same weekend in 2016, Miles said, while acknowledging that an effort had been made to bring back the popular double- header that had proved so popular in Toronto.

“I think our promoters would have preferred to have a doubleheader there (but) we wanted to limit that,” he said.

“We have 16 races and that kind of hit a sweet spot for now.

“If we’re going to do 16 races — obviously we’ve made an exception in Detroit and in Indianapolis (where there is a road-course race at the Speedway two weeks before the headline Indy 500) — I think we’d be better off being in more markets.

“We’re being a bit inconsistent there, but we just felt like if we could add another market — in this instance, it’s Boston — that’s a good thing.”

Tickets for the 2016 Honda Indy Toronto will go on sale later this fall.