IndyCar: Belle Isle race weekend sees one significant change

For the first time in a decade, the Belle Isle IndyCar race weekend is not a doubleheader race weekend, as there is only a Sunday afternoon race.

The final IndyCar race weekend on Belle Isle is scheduled to take place this weekend, as the Detroit Grand Prix is set to return to the streets of Detroit in 2023.

However, unlike in past seasons, this upcoming race weekend is scheduled to feature only one 70-lap race around the 14-turn, 2.35-mile (3.782-kilometer) Raceway on Belle Isle temporary street circuit as opposed to a doubleheader.

Belle Isle returned to the IndyCar schedule for the first time since 2008 in 2012, and in 2012, it hosted just one race.

But in 2013, it hosted a doubleheader for the first time, and that remained the case every year through 2019.

In 2020, the venue was axed from the calendar as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions, but the doubleheader returned in 2021 as expected.

However, this Sunday afternoon’s race, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, is the one and only IndyCar race at the track this weekend. It is the seventh of 17 races on this year’s schedule.

This isn’t a recent change; when the 2022 schedule was announced back in mid-September, Belle Isle only had one race date.

However, given the fact that this is the first time that Belle Isle will have hosted just a single IndyCar race in a full decade, it may be well worth the quick reminder for some, especially since it is the final Belle Isle race weekend for the foreseeable future.

Indy 500 champion and current points leader Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing won the first of two races on Belle Isle last year to secure his first career IndyCar victory, and Indy 500 runner-up Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP won the second to secure his second.

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live from Belle Isle on USA Network beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 5. Start your free trial of FuboTV if you haven’t already done so!