Grand-Am finale change

The sportscar series regularly shares a bill with IRL IndyCar Series races and has been seen as closely affiliated with Tony George's open wheel series. It had been due to make its Mexican debut with an event in early December, but that race has been brought forward to the Saturday of the circuit's Champ Car meeting (November 5).

"We are delighted that we have reached an agreement with Champ Car and (race promoters) OCESA to be part of what is sure to be an exciting weekend in Mexico City," said Grand-Am president Roger Edmondson. "As the annual Champ Car weekend in Mexico City has proven to be wildly successful, we feel strongly that it will grow even bigger this year and are honoured to be a part of it."

"In today's racing environment, our series has to think outside the box in order grow our loyal fan base and the Champ Car open wheel product appeal," added Champ Car's Joe Chrnelich. "Grand American is a quality organisation with an exciting product and we agree with our promoter OCESA that this combination could be a worthy addition to our weekend.

"We look forward to working with Grand American and to the potential of growing our relationship in the future."

"This is great for all the Mexican fans that love motorsports - to have on the same weekend the best open-wheel championship along with the best sports car series running their season finale," said OCESA chairman Rodrigo Gonzalez.

The Grand-Am series is turning into something of a 'neutral ground' in American motorsports - attracting a host of stars from Champ Cars, IndyCars and NASCAR to its season opening 24 hour race at Daytona this weekend.