Will IndyCar someday fill F1 void in Montreal?

Open-wheel racing fans had wondered if the IRL would try to fill the void in Montreal left when Formula One abandoned the Gilles Villeneuve circuit and Mont Tremblant, Que., which was a fixture on the Champ Car circuit before it folded.

"We think to give Toronto the opportunity to grow and mature is only appropriate," said Angstadt. "We weren't there before, so this was our first event. There were fewer stands (fewer is an understatement, and they were not even full), but what was really good … is (owners and race promoters) Andretti Green Toronto were thrilled with the financial results (after the government gave them $2M, they cruised and didn't try hard). They secured major sponsorship with Honda, major sponsorship with Budweiser (both did national advertising campaigns around the Toronto Indy, but Toronto is a Molson town and most of the bars are Molson affiliated, so Budweiser is the wrong beer in that town). "They beat their ticket number by 20 per cent. (Sure with the $2M government handout they could set their goal at 10,000 and say 15,000 beat their goal)"

"Was it smaller than it was historically? Of course it was; we took a year off and they were in that rebuilding mode. We were thrilled as a sanctioning body…they put on a great show on the track."

"We think two races in Canada is great, and we really don't foresee growing beyond what we have now. But that's today. Things do tend to change."