Ipswich Circuit Gets One More Year Of V8s
The Age
Friday October 26, 2007
THE one blank date on next year's V8 supercar calendar - the July 18-20 weekend - has been filled by Queensland Raceway.
Negotiations with the management of the track, near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, had foundered and when V8 bosses unveiled their 2008 schedule last month, Queensland Raceway, which has hosted events since the late 1990s, was missing V8 Supercars Australia chief executive Wayne Cattach said yesterday that the Queensland meeting would be a three-race sprint round, the same format as last year. But he pointed out that the contract renewal was for only one year.V8 bosses hope to stage a street race in Townsville, in north Queensland, in 2009.That would likely mean the end of Queensland Raceway as a venue, as the Sunshine state already hosts a V8 round at the Gold Coast during the Indy festival and the sport's organisers would not want to have three championship rounds in Queensland. The supercars will make their debut in Hamilton, New Zealand, next April and organisers are expecting a sellout 155,000 crowd to pack the new street circuit. After a frantic round at Surfers Paradise, the V8 circus heads to Bahrain next week with the championship looking like a race between Ford's rising star Jamie Whincup and Holden's established star Garth Tander.Whincup leads Tander by nine points with three rounds, including Bahrain, remaining in this year's title race. The duo are familiar with each other as they were teammates in 2003 when both raced for the Garry Rogers team. Whincup was a 19-year-old debutant then; now he is a dual Bathurst winner.Todd Kelly is not in the hunt for the championship this year, but is hoping to make a splash in Bahrain with a colour switch. His Holden is under a new livery for the duel in the desert, switching from the customary red to race in Chevrolet's black and gold colours in one of General Motors big export markets.? Singapore will hold the first formula one night race next year after the world governing body FIA gave the go-ahead.The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix will be held on September 28 on a street circuit of public roads around the Marina Bay area, surrounded by skyscrapers and colonial buildings.
© 2007 The Age
