IRL firms up 2005 schedule.

The addition of the Honda Grand Prix gives the 2005 IndyCar Series a 17-race schedule, made up of 14 ovals, two road courses and a temporary street circuit.

Following the confirmation St Petersburg, which forms the third round of the series after Homestead and Phoenix, the series will expand once again for its most historic shift to date. The first permanent road course to feature on the schedule will take place at an IndyCar-modified, ten-turn circuit at Infineon Raceway on 28 August, with Watkins Glen International also pencilled in for 25 September.

The race at Infineon Raceway will be the first Indy-style race at the facility since Dan Gurney's win in a USAC Indy Car race in 1970, while the race at Watkins Glen occurs on the weekend long associated with the United States Grand Prix at the facility.

The 89th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday 29 May, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will announce its May schedule in the near future. The calendar leaves the whole of May free should the circuit decide to allocate a full four weeks to the build-up to the big event of the year. Suggestions from some quarters indicate that the preparation time may be halved following disappointing audiences in 2004.

The season will end at California Speedway, instead of the traditional second event at Texas. The Fort Worth facility has seen its allocation of events halved.

2005 IndyCar schedule

March 6 Homestead-Miami Speedway
March 19 Phoenix International Raceway
April 3 St Petersburg
April 30 Twin Ring Motegi
May 29 Indianapolis Motor Speedway
June 11 Texas Motor Speedway
June 25 Richmond International Raceway
July 3 Kansas Speedway
July 16 Nashville Superspeedway
July 24 The Milwaukee Mile
July 31 Michigan International Speedway
August 14 Kentucky Speedway
August 21 Pikes Peak International Raceway
August 28 Infineon Raceway
September 11 Chicagoland Speedway
September 25 Watkins Glen International
October 16 California Speedway