NTT IndyCar Series officials have announced today that the season finale of the upcoming 2019 season will be sponsored by the championship’s tyre suppliers, Firestone. The 2019 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will be held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, September 22.
2019 will mark the long-awaited return of Laguna Seca to the IndyCar calendar. It was announced back in July that the circuit would be replacing Sonoma Raceway in the coveted role of the IndyCar season-finale; a great deal for the circuit that will see the excitement multiplied by the added weight of the potential crowning of a champion.
With today’s news, it is now confirmed that Firestone will sponsor the opening and closing races of the 2019 season. At the rest of the races on the seventeen-race calendar, the company will continue to supply tyres to every car on the grid for the twentieth consecutive season.
“Firestone is a time-tested brand with a rich tradition in open-wheel racing, making it the perfect match for INDYCAR’s return to this iconic road course,” said Lisa Boggs, director of motorsports for Bridgestone Americas; the parent company of Firestone.
“With this new sponsorship, Firestone now will help deliver great events for fans when the NTT IndyCar Series season goes green in St. Petersburg and crosses the finish line in Monterey – while continuing to provide world-class tire technology for every lap in between.”
The last IndyCar race at Laguna Seca was held in 2004. Prior to the circuit’s fifteen-year absence from the calendar, the circuit was the site of many historical moments in American single-seater racing, including the now famous overtake made by Alex Zanardi on Bryan Herta at ‘the corkscrew’ corner on the final lap of the race in 1996.
Laguna Seca’s return to the calendar has been met with massive praise from drivers and fans alike. The fantastic circuit looks set to begin a new era of providing spectacular racing with one of the world’s most spectacular championships.
The 2019 NTT IndyCar Series will kick-off with the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday, March 10.
