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Fernando Alonso’s return to the Indianapolis 500 in 2019 is helping the championship broaden its appeal worldwide, apart from its core US market. According to IndyCar Series CEO Mark Miles in an interview to Marshall Pruett for his podcast, the two-time F1 world champion's presence has got them the momentum needed to spread their wings to the other countries.
“Alonso coming back for the 500 in 2019 is terrific! It keeps the focus beyond Spain, around the world, it makes IndyCar topical, not just the 500. And that’s great. I think that leads to more growth, more relevance, more investment from international sources all the time.”
The horde of fans, from Japan to Argentina and from Spain to India, who follow his every move are more eyeballs for IndyCar. Alonso is motorsport's Pied Piper and his quest for the triple crown is bound to bring reams of online coverage and hours of television headlines. Alonso’s coolness factor is a marketing delight.
Already an immensely quote-able person on and off the radio and with a propensity for memes, he is box-office material and then some, owing to his sparkling pool of talent. His first-ever IndyCar test on May 4, 2017, became a bonafide internet event.
It was just a rookie orientation session, but anyone around the world could watch the live streaming on YouTube. And what is an emphatic statement of his popularity? Two million people watched a lone papaya orange car of McLaren Andretti-Honda go around the famous but deserted brickyard of Indianapolis. IndyCar milked the event and which is why he is a marketer's wet-dream. Alonso gets another shot at his goal of completing the final leg of racing’s triple crown and Indy can ride on the popularity coattails of perhaps the most famous driver in motorsports right now.
Plus, he is coming this time with a McLaren set up and a Chevrolet engine. An English team with a Spanish driver with an American engine. IndyCar is getting a sufficiently international touch. It is being craved and it craves more attention.
Miles also believes in attracting more international team owners and international drivers to the Indy championship, while still maintaining a solid foundation of American drivers and team owners. Additionally IndyCar has also taken control of its international media rights distribution which will help it to create more bespoke broadcast content for non-US markets.
“We decided rather than sell all of our international media rights to ESPN International and make them fully responsible for serving those international broadcasters as customers we took that business in-house."
Coming back to Alonso, his banter is on the point and the Americans were instantly bowled over by his humour as seen at the Indy 500 awards video above. Whether he wins or not, he brings a lot of energy and buzz to the event that America waits for every Memorial Day weekend. This time perhaps more people around the world than ever before will be tuned in, mostly because of Fernando Alonso.
