Gold Coast Indy 300

Gold Coast Indy 300
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Race information
Most wins (drivers)France Sébastien Bourdais (2)
Most wins (constructors)Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (6)
Circuit length4.47 km (2.79 miles)
Race length269.88 km (167.70 miles)
Laps60
Last race (2008)
Pole position
Podium
Fastest lap

The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging 4.47-kilometre (2.78 mi) track, alongside a strip of beaches, had several fast sections and four chicanes. The event had various names during its history for sponsorship reasons; in its final year, it was known as the Nikon Indy 300.[1]

The race debuted in 1991 on the CART Indy Car World Series calendar, the first race in series history held outside North America. Following the split between CART and the newly formed Indy Racing League (IRL) in 1996, CART continued to sanction the event until it folded after the 2003 season. From 2004 to 2007, the race was part of the Champ Car World Series, the successor to CART. Following the merger of the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series in February 2008 it was announced that the race would continue as a non-championship IndyCar Series event; however the race was omitted from the 2009 IndyCar Series season calendar,[2] and subsequently dropped by the IndyCar Series completely.

In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Gold Coast Indy 300 was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as an "event and festival".[3]

  1. ^ "Nikon announced as naming rights sponsor for Indy". Queensland Government. 5 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  2. ^ "'09 expansion". Official Website of the Indycar Series. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  3. ^ Bligh, Anna (10 June 2009). "PREMIER UNVEILS QUEENSLAND'S 150 ICONS". Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.