IndyCar will race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on July 18th of next year, marking the series' first event in Europe in more than a decade and its first race outside North America on the current calendar.
The venue hosted the Spanish Grand Prix from 1991 to 2025 before losing that date to the new Madring circuit this season. Catalunya continues to hold Formula 1 events on a rotating deal, now run as the Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya, scheduled for even-numbered years, while Spa-Francorchamps hosts the Belgian Grand Prix in odd-numbered years. That rotation leaves the track without an F1 date in 2027, making the IndyCar round the biggest event Catalunya will host that year.
IndyCar has signed a 10-year agreement for the event. Because of the alternating F1 schedule, the track should host both IndyCar and Formula 1 in the same calendar year on at least four occasions over the life of the deal. It would be the first time a circuit has staged both series within a single year since IndyCar's lone COTA appearance in 2019.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, IndyCar and the series that preceded it in its split era ran major events across Asia, Europe, and South America, but that international reach ended with the final Brazilian round in 2013.
The location carries added significance for Alex Palou. The five-time and reigning champion hails from the Barcelona area and plans to treat the round as his home race. As the lone event on the calendar outside North America, it also offers the nearest equivalent to a home race for drivers across the continent, at least until the series pursues further international rounds.
The first race at Catalunya is set for July 18th.
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