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SUPERCARS BENCHES ‘ASIAN INVASION’

Supercars bench Asian invasion

By Bruce Williams

Supercars bench Asian invasion

Supercars benches “Asian invasion”

RACES IN south-east Asia are off Supercars’ agenda until the local calendar is sorted.

By MARK FOGARTY

Despite interest in Malaysia and Singapore, Supercars supremo Sean Seamer is committed to refining the Australia/New Zealand schedule before pursuing out-of-region opportunities.

Sepang International Circuit boss Razlan Razali has revealed that Supercars was pushing for a deal in 2017, allied to an appearance at the F1 Singapore Grand Prix or an event in Thailand.

Former Supercars CEO James Warburton pushed hard to get Supercars on the Singapore GP support race program, twinned with another event in the region.

According to Razali, Warburton pitched Malaysia’s former F1 track for a Supercars round.

While Sepang is still interested, Supercars supremo Sean Seamer has confirmed that the series’ ambitions of an ‘Asian invasion’ are on indefinite hold.

“Our focus is getting Australia and New Zealand right,” Seamer told Auto Action. “Racing at the right time for fans, with the right turn-around times for teams.

“Of course, we would look at any opportunities if they make sense from a championship and calendar perspective, as long as they are viable, long-term propositions and add value to the sport, our teams and our fans.”

Seamer confirmed that talks with the Singapore GP organisers had stalled.

“There have been no further discussions on Singapore,” Seamer said.

According to SIC’s Razali, Supercars under Warburton was keen to race at Kuala Lumpur’s former F1 venue, which gave up the Malaysian GP after 2017 because it had become too expensive amid declining attendance and falling TV audiences.

He started talking with Warburton in 2016, but SIC’s board of directors put the discussions on hold pending a survey of fans’ interest in international series outside F1 and MotoGP.

“We negotiated with him, we discussed with him and we got a package from him,” Razali told AA during a recent visit to Melbourne. “At that time, it was supposed to be a back-to-back with Singapore or back-to-back with Buriram (Thailand).

“So I got the proposal and I presented it to the board, but the board was being very cautious and hence I told James we had to KIV (Keep In View) this and wait for the result of the poll. So we said ‘OK, let’s try again in the future’.

“The moment we announced the exit of F1, people came knocking on our door, including Supercars. James (Warburton) was very aggressive to knock on our door. I was very keen about V8s, but then the board said we have to be cautious and do a survey.”

In the fan poll, Supercars ranked fifth out of seven series, behind the top-ranked motorcycle Endurance World Championship, WTCR, Japanese Super GT and WSBK, and ahead of DTM and WEC.

Razali revealed that Warburton proposed a deal whereby Supercars would guarantee a minimum number of Australian visitors, which was also his pitch to the Singapore GP organisers to join the F1 night race’s support program.

“He came up with, I wouldn’t say ambitious, I think it was an acceptable assumption of the number of tourists because they were committed to buy X number of hospitality packages and things like that,” Razali said. “He was talking about 4000-5000 Australians. It was quite good numbers.”

Warburton also agreed that Supercars would use a shortened track layout rather than the full 5.5 km F1 course.

“On the main circuit, they would be lost,” Razali explained. “In fact, one of the reasons I liked James’s proposal was that he was open to do it half-track rather than the full track. He was willing to do that.”

The SIC track boss hasn’t heard from Supercars since Warburton left at the end of 2017, but he remains open to hosting the series in the future as part of a double- or triple-bill international event like the WTCR/EWC co-finale it is staging in mid-December.

“On its own, it would be difficult,” Razali said. “It has to be packaged on a weekend with something else. Then it makes sense.”

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