On Wednesday the city of Long Beach, California followed suit of many other cities around the world and placed a ban on all public events with 250 or more people through the end of April due to the outbreak of Covid-19 virus.
By Thursday, this was confirmed to include the Acura GP of Long Beach IndyCar race which was scheduled to take place on April 17-19.
In a statement, the event confirmed that the race will be delayed to an undetermined future date, and acknowledged that finding another day to run a race that requires city streets to be temporarily closed may not be possible.
If a suitable date is not found later this year, then the race will be cancelled for this season.
From the Grand Prix of Long Beach statement:
“In light of today’s announcement from the City of Long Beach prohibiting all large-scale events in the City through April 30, 2020, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will not take place as scheduled on April 17-19.
“While we recognize that this is a serious inconvenience for our loyal attendees, sponsors and other clients, nevertheless, this action is consistent with our primary objective of assuring the public’s safety and well-being at our event.
“We are in conversation with the City of Long Beach, various race sanctioning bodies and the Long Beach Convention Center to discuss the viability of rescheduling this event at a later time in the year.
“If that is not possible, then we look forward to presenting the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 16-18, 2021.
“Further details about possible refunds or credits will be forthcoming.”
This is the first IndyCar race to officially be delayed, though this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is set to be run with no spectators and with minimal personnel.
Multiple other motorsports events around the world, including the F1 Australian Grand Prix, have already been cancelled or delayed in recent days.
