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V8 Supercars signs 2017 Asian MoU

04 Jun 2015
But CEO Warburton says no overseas calendar additions will replace local races.
3 mins by James Pavey
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V8 Supercars has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to conduct a second Asian race in 2017 to join the Championship event scheduled for Kuala Lumpur in 2016.

But category CEO James Warburton has vowed that even if the non-binding MoU does translate into an event to join the KL City Grand Prix outing announced on Wednesday, a move to race off-shore twice in a season would not come at the cost of any local events.

"No, not at all," he told v8supercars.com.au from Kuala Lumpur. "I have been on the record as saying we are an Australian series that may have a couple of races internationally.

"We are never going to change that."

Currently, V8 Supercars contests 14 championship events across Australia and New Zealand as well as attending the Australian Grand Prix.

In the wake of the announcement V8 Supercars had signed a heads of agreement to conduct a championship event on a new circuit on the streets of the Malaysian capital from 2016-19, fans had speculated on social media that it could mean a local event getting the chop.

But Warburton said that would not be happening, pointing out the expansion into Asia would simply enable more events to be added to the championship - something not possible to do within Australia.

"It (Asia) opens up enormous growth opportunities for us again in terms of adding new events," he insisted. "We are maxed out on our calendar in Australia in terms of facilities and not wanting to go twice in the year to the same circuit.

"So it really opens up some opportunities for us to grow and to add some events to the calendar, which is great."

Warburton has been in Asia all week, not only to attend the KL City Grand prix announcement, but also meet with other potential sites for V8 Supercar events in the region.

He said he had been talking to a "few" different potential venues.

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"We have signed an MoU for an event in another prominent Asian market for an event in 2017," Warburton confirmed. "But it is a non-binding MoU.

"For absolute clarity there is an enormous amount of work that has to be completed on the other side of the ledger, which is essentially building the facility and the like.

"A lot of that has already started so that's another exciting one, but we have to be cautious about how we build things."

Warburton would not name the venue with which the MoU had been signed, although he did say it was not in Thailand, which has been mooted in media speculation as a chance to host a V8 Supercars race.

"Thailand is definitely a sophisticated motorsports market and it is definitely one of the ones in the mix, but no, it's not the one with which an MoU has been signed," he said.

Warburton was clear the KL City Grand Prix was the only international addition planned for the 2016 calendar, which will be announced in September.

Cheaper freight costs meant the 'twinning' required for events in the Middle East to be more affordable would not be necessary in this case.

The lack of a 'twin' was also an important reason the Circuit of the Americas in Texas droped from the calendar after one event in 2013.

"From a freight and logistics point of view it makes it (Asia) more sustainable," he said.

"Freight to Asia is very efficient ... and we have worked pretty hard to make our freight model pretty robust from where it has been," he said. "So there is no need for a twin."

Five V8 Supercars will attend the inaugural Kuala Lumpur event on August 7-9 to stage demonstration races.

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