Mexico City’s motorsport event promoter said the absence of NASCAR and IndyCar in 2026 was largely due to the soccer World Cup, but both series need to lay the foundations for the 2027 event.
NASCAR hosted Cup Series races for the first time this year, which will not resume until 2026, while IndyCar is working on adding Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to its schedule but has not yet finalized plans. At this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, CIE Group CEO Alejandro Soberon Curri said the right approach was to pause for a moment and lay the foundations for success in 2027.
“(NASCAR) was great. It’s a great event,” Soberon said. “I think that’s something we can build on. Next year was difficult with some scheduling issues and the World Cup along the way didn’t promote some things, but I think IndyCar and NASCAR have a lot of potential to grow in Mexico and take advantage of this great fan base. So I think we should be excited (about news for 2027).”
“You have to learn to build something. It takes time. It’s the same thing when you launch a new festival. The first year is exciting, but you have to keep building. Maybe after the third edition of something it really realizes its potential.”
“NASCAR knows they need to build on that and they’re going to do that as well as we do. After the World Cup, I don’t think anybody wants to fight too much because the World Cup is such a big deal, but you don’t want to get into that fight unless you’re really committed. 2027 is going to be a year where everyone has a lot of energy.”
Mexico City Grand Prix Managing Director Federico Gonzalez Compean also urged both categories to commit to the local market from a pre-event perspective.
“We’re in talks with NASCAR and IndyCar, so they might have to be active (locally),” Gonzalez said. “It doesn’t just happen like, ‘Okay, here we go, all of a sudden everything happens.’
“One of the conversations and proposals we had was, ‘Hey, guys, open an office here.’ We can work on (the region), develop the (region), develop the space and get more promotion from here to the U.S. and from the U.S. to here. Good luck. It’s something you have to build and it’s not something that just happens like a miracle.”
Despite the successful crossover between F1 events and IndyCar, facilitated by Pato O’Ward’s FP1 run and Colton Herta’s impending switch to the F1 feeder series, Gonzalez says one series doesn’t necessarily promote the other.
“Personally, I believe this is a completely different market,” he said. “I think each of these races should have its own personality. You can do some work between races, but in my opinion it should be one solid thing with its own personality, with different ticket prices, different approaches. So it shouldn’t work the same or be treated the same as F1. That’s my opinion.”
