The Grand Prix of Montreal was an annual

auto race Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

on the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

calendar.

History

Originally known as the Molson Indy Montreal, it was first held at

Sanair Super Speedway Sanair Super Speedway is a motorsports park with a 0.826-mile (1.33 km) paved triangular oval race track, a quarter-mile dragstrip, a 1/3-mile oval, as well as a 0.12-mile mini-oval and 0.15-mile karting course. It also formerly had a -mile r ...

, an oval track, from 1984 through 1986. The Champ Car series revived the race in 2002, and it was held in late August each year until 2006 at the

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled ''Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve'' (), is a motor racing circuit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. It has previously hosted the FIA World Sportscar ...

, a permanent road course most famous as the home of the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Canadian Grand Prix The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a spor ...

. In 2006, the name of the race was changed to the Grand Prix of Montreal after its sale by Molson Sports & Entertainment. This mirrored the name change of the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Champ Car race from the Molson Indy Toronto to the

Molson Grand Prix of Toronto The Grand Prix of Toronto (known for sponsorship reasons as the Honda Indy Toronto) is an annual Indy Car race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the Champ Car World Series from 1986 t ...

after its sale by Molson.

Future prospects

After the 2006 race, the future of the Grand Prix of Montreal became shrouded in doubt. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is allowed to be used for one race weekend outside of the Canadian Grand Prix, and it was heavily speculated that from 2007 onwards, Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault (who promotes all races at CGV) would replace the Grand Prix of Montreal with a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

race.http://www2.canoe.com/sports/nouvelles/f1/archives/2006/06/20060623-145005.html Champ Car announced in September 2006 that it would indeed not be returning to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and would be replacing the event with one at

Circuit Mont-Tremblant Circuit Mont-Tremblant () is a race circuit about south of the village of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. The name of the village of Saint-Jovite was often included in the name of the circuit, but since the village was amalgamated into Mont-Tr ...

(2007

Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix The Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix was an auto race in the Champ Car World Series. It was held from 1967 to 1968 and again in 2007. It was held at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. The race replaced the Grand Prix of ...

, previously held 1968-1970). Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve replaced the race with the NASCAR

NAPA Auto Parts 200 The NAPA Auto Parts 200 Presented by Dodge (French title: ''NAPA Pièces d'auto 200 présenté par Dodge'') is a discontinued NASCAR Nationwide Series race that took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 2007 to ...

race.

Race Winners

Sanair (1984–1986)

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (2002–2006)

Formula Atlantic winners

These races were held at

Attendance

References

External links

*Champ Car Stats
Sanair archive
*Ultimate Racing History
Sanair archiveMontreal archive
{{Coord, 45, 30, 2.08, N, 73, 31, 20.86, W, type:event_region:CA-QC, display=title Auto races in Canada