Organisers of next month’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg have been granted approval for up to 20,000 spectators to attend the street-based event in the city.
Members of the city council unanimously voted for fans to attend the event with a cap of 20,000 in order to ensure social distancing measures can be put in place.
The event has often sold out to a maximum capacity of 80,000 before the pandemic.
The regular season opener was moved back by seven weeks and switched places with Barber Motorsports Park in attempts for Covid-19 metrics to improve.
The new date was originally set for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, however, the Californian event has been moved to the season finale on September 26, with St. Petersburg installed on April 25.
“This is an important event for our local economy and will again serve to showcase and elevate the Sunshine City on the world stage,” said Rick Kriseman, Mayor of St Petersburg.
“I am confident that the protocols in place will allow for a safe, fun race weekend in St Pete,” said Kim Green, promoter of the event.
“This is another great day for the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, our race fans and the NTT IndyCar Series. The city of St Petersburg is always one of the crown jewel stops each season for the entire IndyCar community.
“We are thankful for the support of Mayor Rick Kriseman, city council, the city’s entire event team and Pinellas County for putting their faith in us again to operate this event and assisting us with our plan to host it ‘The St Pete Way’ with the proper precautions in place.”
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