IndyCar heads to Barcelona in 2027 for Palou’s home race, its first outside North America since 2013
A multi-year deal brings the series to Montmeló on 18 July, its first race in Europe since Champ Car visited Assen in 2007, with the layout and start times still to be announced
IndyCar will race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday 18 July 2027, giving five-time champion Alex Palou a race in his home city and ending a 13-year run without a race outside North America. The series announced the multi-year deal on Friday.
All confirmed 2027 dates so far: IndyCar 2027 schedule.
The inaugural IndyCar Grand Prix of Barcelona was presented at the circuit in Montmeló by Mark Miles, president and CEO of Penske Entertainment, Pau Relat, chairman of Fira de Barcelona and Fira Circuit, and Palou himself. The length of the agreement was not disclosed.
São Paulo in 2013 was the last time
The last IndyCar race held outside the United States and Canada was the São Paulo Indy 300 in 2013, won by James Hinchcliffe for Andretti Autosport. It closed a four-year run on a temporary street circuit in Brazil that began in 2010.
Europe has waited even longer. The last time the top level of American open-wheel racing raced on this continent was 2007, when Champ Car visited Zolder in Belgium and then Assen in the Netherlands, where Justin Wilson won. A year later Champ Car and the Indy Racing League merged, and the unified series has never raced in Europe since. Barcelona will also be the first IndyCar event in Spain.
“A monumental day for our sport”
That was how Miles described the announcement in the official release. Relat called it “a major milestone and an exciting challenge for the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.”
Palou kept it simple: “I’m so excited to be part of INDYCAR’s first race in Barcelona.”
According to RACER, Miles was tasked with creating an international event when he joined the series more than a decade ago, and earlier plans in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, China, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia never materialised. In July we reported that Penske Entertainment and Fox were exploring a return to racing outside North America.
Four titles in a row, and now a home crowd
Palou is 29 and drives for Chip Ganassi Racing. He clinched his fifth championship at Milwaukee this year, his fourth in a row and his fifth in six seasons. Only A.J. Foyt, with seven, and Scott Dixon, with six, have won more IndyCar titles.
He will arrive in Barcelona with a new team-mate in the famous No. 9 car: Christian Lundgaard takes over from Dixon, who moves to Arrow McLaren. More on the champion in our Alex Palou driver profile.
The layout is still open, and Formula 1 is away in 2027
The series has not yet chosen a configuration, RACER reports. The options are the 4.657 km (2.894-mile) Grand Prix layout with 14 turns, and the 4.675 km (2.905-mile) version with 16 turns, which adds the chicane before the main straight.
The timing suits the circuit. Under the deal signed in February 2026, Barcelona hosts Formula 1 in 2028, 2030 and 2032, alternating with Spa-Francorchamps, so there is no Spanish round at Montmeló on the 2027 F1 calendar. The venue has been busy this autumn all the same: the World Endurance Championship held its first 6 Hours of Barcelona here last weekend.
Our read
Barcelona has one argument that São Paulo, Qingdao or any of the abandoned projects never had: the series champion was born there. A Palou home race sells itself in Spain in a way a neutral venue would not.
The harder part is the calendar. A transatlantic trip in the middle of a North American summer is a heavy load for teams used to trucking from race to race, and IndyCar has not yet said how freight, costs or the surrounding weekends will work. A permanent Grand Prix circuit with F1 facilities is a much safer base than a temporary street track, but the deal will be judged on whether the grandstands are full in July and whether it is still there in 2029.
Phase Two of the 2027 schedule follows shortly
Barcelona is the centrepiece of Phase Two of the 2027 NTT IndyCar Series schedule. IndyCar says the rest of Phase Two will be announced shortly, with start times and broadcast details to follow later. Nine races already have a date, from St. Petersburg on 7 March to Road America on 27 June; Markham, Milwaukee and Laguna Seca are still waiting for theirs.
Sources: INDYCAR official release, 23 October 2026; RACER; Williams F1 (Barcelona F1 rotation, February 2026).
Will a home crowd make Palou even harder to beat in Barcelona, or is this the race where someone finally takes one from him? Tell us in the comments.
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