With the demise of the A1GP series the Gold Coast event organisers may have a headache now that the party is over. Traditionally the event has been hinged around a major single seater class such as the ChampCars from North American making the trip down under. Now there are few options to fill the vacant position.
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The A1GP cars were impounded over the winter over disputed monies owed to various parties. A final settlement and release of the cars for the Nikon SuperGP weekend in Brisbane and the start of the A1GP season never eventuated.
Full marks for the organizers to come up with a revised V8 Supercar program to fill in the major gap left by the A1GP. The V8 Supercars provided race fans with four action packed 150km races.
Traditionally Labour weekend in NZ has always seen a steady trek across the Tasman by race fans for a weekend of partying and fantastic single seater racing.
But what to do next year?
Having the event centre around a major single seater class will be not be easy. The ChampCar Series was amalgamated with the IndyCar Series which already has its calendar finalised and finishes in early October. Bringing a European class down south will also prove difficult as most of these series also finish in early October and will not want their final race of the season in the Southern Hemisphere.
If A1GP got underway again it would a nightmare to instill confidence in spectators to buy tickets.
Maybe the organizers got this weekend right in having the V8Supercars as the main event. Having been to the Hamilton 400 they are an awesome sight and sound up close and personal. So maybe there won’t be a headache, rather this weekend may have proved to be a tonic.
See also
- Winterbottom unstoppable at Nikon SuperGP weekend
