IndyCar has confirmed that the Indy Lights Freedom 100 race will not run in 2021 in order to “prioritise Indy 500 on-track activities”.
The Freedom 100 joined the Indy Lights schedule in 2003, and has ran every year since as a popular event often watched by fans outside of the series and IndyCar.
It is traditionally held on ‘Carb Day’, which also features the last practice session before the Indy 500.
The first event was won by current team owner and multiple IndyCar race winner Ed Carpenter, while double champion Josef Newgarden and three-time race winner Colton Herta were also victorious during their junior careers.
The 2013 event has become part of motorsport folklore due to its photo finish, with Irishman Peter Dempsey taking victory by just 0.0026s. That record was later beaten when Dean Stoneman won the 2016 event by 0.0024s.
The Indy Lights series is owned by IndyCar and operated by Andersen Promotions. Indy Lights released its 10 event, 20 race calendar on Thursday – following a one-year sabbatical due to the COVID-19 pandemic – with one TBA, which won’t be the Freedom 100.
“Reserving the Month of May schedule for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES provides maximum flexibility to prioritise Indy 500 on-track activities,” an IndyCar spokesperson told The Race.
“In 2020, we’ve learned this flexibility is key to ensure we’re able to successfully race the Indianapolis 500.”
The Freedom 100 would have been the race debut of the halo device on the Indianapolis oval, as the Indy Lights series is incorporating the head protection device onto its cars for 2021. IndyCar uses the alternative aeroscreen device developed by Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
The Indy 500 was delayed in 2020 due to the coronavirus and its impact on the local area. It eventually ran in August, the latest it has ever ran in its 104-event history.
Indy Lights will visit Indianapolis, but on the road course on May 14/15, two weekends before the 2021 Indy 500 is due to take place on May 30.
It means the Indy Lights calendar has Gateway only in the form of an oval.
The IndyCar calendar has also had a reduced number of ovals for the 2021 season, down to three with the loss of its Iowa event.
Five-time series champion Scott Dixon said: “I’m bummed there are only three ovals.
“I started in this category in 2003. It was 16 ovals in the series.
“We definitely need to work hard and trying to get back to that.
“I was extremely bummed about Iowa. It’s not a place I’ve won at, but it’s a track that is complete chaos, very difficult to set the car up.
“It’s exhausting physically. It provides some of the best racing we have all season. Hopefully, that can be rectified down the road.
“I think we’re in desperate need to get some more ovals on the schedule. As we all know, you got to do the venues that work right. Hopefully, we see more of those in the future.
“I know Jay [Frye, IndyCar president] and everybody at the NTT IndyCar Series are working hard on that.”
Indy Lights will kick off at St Petersburg, before heading to Indianapolis and then Detroit for the first time since 2012.
The old-fashioned road courses of Road America and Mid-Ohio follow, before Toronto and Portland sandwich the Gateway oval round.
The season will finish at Laguna Seca in September.
The Indy Lights series is the top-tier of the Road to Indy, which offers scholarships to each champion to graduate to the next tier and total prize money of over $3 million, according to the series.
The Indy Lights champion will receive the budget to contest three races in IndyCar for 2022, including the Indy 500. The top three in the championship will receive an IndyCar test.
The Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000 series have also revealed calendars for the 2021 season. Both of those championships continued during 2020.
