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Early on Saturday morning, the IndyCar Markham Street Course received FIA approval, allowing on-track running to finally begin for IndyCar’s first-ever Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham after delays.

As IndyCar arrived in Markham, a suburb of Toronto, for the second of its three new street circuits this year, the venue was not ready in time.

Delays that began on Thursday continued into Friday, forcing all on-track sessions for IndyCar and its support categories to be pushed back until Saturday. That created a packed weekend schedule and left fans, drivers and teams frustrated.

IndyCar President J. Douglas Boles issued a statement last night, apologising for the incomplete state of the circuit build.

“INDYCAR is incredibly disappointed that our promoter was not able to complete the track build on time, despite significant support from our team on site,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Ontario has always been a magnificent market for our sport and the number of spectators that attended today is a shining example of that. New events can always pose logistical challenges, and we join in the frustration of our loyal fans and apologise.”

With favourable weather in the area ahead of Markham’s first race, there is little firm evidence explaining what caused such an unprecedented delay for Green Savoree, the promoter responsible for the track build. While IndyCar was racing across the continent in Portland, Oregon last week, Green Savoree was slipping behind schedule in Ontario.

Boles did not hide his disappointment over Green Savoree’s delayed completion of the circuit.

Before this weekend’s problems, Green Savoree and IndyCar had built a strong record together, having successfully delivered street circuit builds in St Petersburg, Florida, and Toronto over the years. Green Savoree also operates the Portland race at Portland Raceway, which meant it had a team working alongside IndyCar last week as well.

Next week, when IndyCar heads to Washington, DC, the capital of the United States, for the first time, Penske will be in charge.

“Once we hit the track, we believe the circuit will be spectacular,” Boles continued in his statement. “We would like to thank the city of Markham for the major support it has made to provide INDYCAR a layout, which is fast, technical and will put on a terrific show on Sunday.”

NASCAR Canada will be the first series to try the circuit, with drivers scheduled to head onto the 2.19-mile track for practice at 8 AM, followed immediately by qualifying.

IndyCar will try to complete two practice sessions today, with the first set for 10:05 AM and the second for 2:30 PM.

The NASCAR Canada race is scheduled for 4:45 PM, while IndyCar qualifying will return to its traditional “Road Course” knockout format because of the time pressure later in the evening.