News over the weekend that IndyCar is expanding outside the U.S. again with a 2027 round in Spain has “whet the appetite of business and civic leaders to test the waters for a potential Gold Coast return,” according to Andrew Potts of the GOLD COAST BULLETIN. Queensland Mayor Tom Tate said that he was “open to the idea after such a strong weekend.” Tate said, “Gold Coasters loved Indy back in the day (and) as an events’ city and sports city we are always looking at opportunities to add to our calendar.” Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce VP Sarah Colgate was also supportive of a return. Colgate said, “We would 100 per cent be behind that and having a second kind of racing here would be amazing.” Potts wrote there would be “challenges to reviving the Indy concept on the Gold Coast, not least of which is the old long layout of the Surfers Paradise street circuit is no long possible after the construction of the light rail in the early 2010s.” The 2026 GC500 race weekend in Queensland drew 200,000 visitors. Hotel occupancy across the Gold Coast sat at “more than 70 per cent, with accommodation inside the Main Beach and Surfers Paradise precinct around 90 per cent, in line with previous years.” A “comprehensive review of the weekend will be held in coming days about how to further energise the race,” the largest annual sporting event in Queensland (GOLD COAST BULLETIN, 10/25).