Gold Coast Indy 300 officials will travel to the USA today [Thursday] to try and ensure that the Australian event finds a place on this year's unified Indycar Series schedule.
General manager Greg Hooton and chairman Terry Mackenroth will fly to Indianapolis after the Surfers Paradise race was confirmed as an important part of the realigned series during a press conference at Miami-Homestead Speedway.
Although, at this stage, only Long Beach is guaranteed to swell the original Indycar schedule, both the Gold Coast and Edmonton are expected to be accommodate, and series organisers have agreed to meet with Hooton and Mackenroth - and with Edmonton officials - in an effort to make their inclusion in the 2008 championship as seamless as possible.
At present, the biggest doubt over Surfers' role is its date, which falls nearly two months after the scheduled end of the Indycar season at Chicagoland. Talks will determine whether the Australian race is to move date or feature as a non-championship taster in its original slot.
The Champ Car World Series has shared top billing with Australia's V8 Supercar Series on the streets of the Gold Coast for the past six years, and the two have combined to provide one of the world's great on-track programmes, but negotiations will go a long way to determining whether the relationship continues.
"There were a lot of positive words said about our event at today's media conference and we look forward to our discussions over the next few days," Hooton said.
"Obviously, there are a lot of logistical issues that we need to work our way through in this important transitional period, but the new-look series wants to accommodate us.
"The response to the press conference by the media and the motorsport community in general has been amazing and points to a fantastic future – not only for our event, but for the sport as a whole."
