Supercars will push ahead with plans to make the season-ending Gold Coast 500 a night racing event – just not this year.
It is hoped the Surfers Paradise street circuit will be floodlit as soon as next year, when COVID-19 crowd restrictions are expected to be lifted.
Running the Gold Coast event under lights was first proposed for 2020, only to be derailed by the coronavirus crisis.
Scheduled for late October, the then Gold Coast 600 twin-race two-driver enduro was cancelled, returning this year as a pair of 250 km single-driver races in early December as the new final round.
Supercars chief operating officer Shane Howard confirmed the Queensland government-supported switch to night racing was still being pursued for the future.
“We want it,” he declared. “With COVID, there was a lot of funding repositioned, so it’s not on the table for this year. We’ll reinvestigate that opportunity as things improve.
“We think the Gold Coast under lights is a fantastic opportunity and the government supported that. We were reasonably well-advanced with that until COVID hit, then the government realigned its priorities. But we’ll reinvestigate that.
“It would be very cool, but it won’t be this year, that’s for certain.”
Gold Coast night race will happen eventually – Image: InSyde Media
Supercars and the state government believe installing lights around the 2.96 km Surfers Paradise street circuit will reinvigorate the long-running event, justifying the multi-million dollar cost of temporary lighting.
Now backed by Boost Mobile, the December 3-5 Gold Coast 500 replaces the Newcastle 500 as the season-ender. The Newcastle street race event will return next year as the first round in February or March.
The Gold Coast 500 under lights would become Supercars’ third night racing event, joining the Sydney and Perth SuperNights, scheduled for August 20-22 and September 11-12 this year.
COO Howard, who heads Supercars’ Southport office that runs events, is optimistic that December’s daytime Gold Coast 500 will be run without crowd limits.
“It’s in the first week of December, so there’s a lot of time for things to get back to normal there,” he said. “We’re looking at the Gold Coast to be back to where it was.”
Pre-COVID, the event traditionally attracted close to 200,000 over three days.
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