AUTOSPORT magazine reports that the IZOD IndyCar Series will host its first race in Italy next year, with Monza, Imola (LEFT) and Mugello vying for the race.
Rumors of an Italian race have circulated for some time, but the AUTOSPORT report is the first to claim a deal has been agreed. Dr. Paola Mannetti, a spokesman for the organizing committee behind the race, told AUTOSPORT that a deal has been agreed with IndyCar for a race next September.
IndyCar released a schedule of 2013 events last month that left a month open between the Baltimore street race on Sept. 1 and the double-header rounds at Houston on Oct. 5-6.
"I can confirm that Italy will have a round of the 2013 IndyCar Series, and that the race has been fixed for September," Mannetti told AUTOSPORT. "We cannot tell which circuit will be used, because there are options, but the choice is now imminent."
Monza appears to be the most unlikely choice as its Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix is also run in September (Sept. 8). However, that track is the only Italian circuit to have hosted an Indy car race to date, having hosted the "Race of Two Worlds" in 1957-'58 for the F1 and Indy cars of the era, at a time when its famous banked section was still in use.
Mugello hosted an F1 open test earlier this year, while Imola was the site of F1's San Marino Grand Prix from 1981 through 2006.
Commenting on the report, an IndyCar spokesperson said: "While we have had discussions with promoters who desire to stage a race in Italy, all such discussions have been preliminary and there are no current plans to stage an INDYCAR event in Italy."