IndyCar double headers 'long term' policy

Next year's Detroit, Toronto and Houston street events will each feature races on both Saturday and Sunday.

Bernard had long been determined to expand the IndyCar schedule to 19 rounds next season, but this has only been achieved via the double-headers as the series lost its Edmonton date and was only able to add two new venues - Houston and Pocono.

But Bernard said double-headers had already been in the pipeline and are here to stay, rather than just making up for a lack of additional circuits.

"I think anything we do needs to be looked at from the perspective of a long-view strategy," he said.

"This won't be a one-year sample. I think that we picked three great markets to have them in, and the proof will be in the pudding.

"But we did it with the understanding that this was definitely a long-term planning, strategic move."

A street race in Providence, Rhode Island, was among the additions that had been mooted, but this could not be achieved for 2013.

Although Bernard said it was still in the pipeline for the future, he underlined that there would be limited space for new venues as he believes next year's schedule is the optimum length and format.

"We had races and promoters wanting to have additional races," he said.

"They just were not able to pull it off in time for our deadlines, and I think it's real important that everyone understands that we have to stick to a formal plan and I think that we did that this year.

"In regards to 2014, we would love to see Providence, Rhode Island. If they are going to do it, it needs to happen sooner rather than later because we are not going to increase our schedule by a significant amount of events, which means there's a very limited amount of races that we are going to bring on anew.

"There are a couple of markets in Canada that are interested; Providence is interested; you've heard New Orleans is interested. There are quite a few markets out there."