V8 Supercars still looking overseas

V8 Supercars continues to look overseas for feature international races, as the calendar for 2015 comes together.

CEO James Warburton understands the necessity of keeping an Australian Championship mostly in Australia, but stands by his statement made at the season opening Clipsal 500 - the right overseas races will complement the already strong category.

"We are absolutely an Australian Championship with, potentially, some international events on our calendar," Warburton told v8supercars.com.au.

"As I said in Adelaide at the beginning of this year we have got to get the strategy right.

"We had five very successful years with Abu Dhabi that worked for us and worked for them. It's always good to expand the horizons but it has got to make sense."

V8 Supercars included Abu Dhabi races as part of the Championship from 2010-12, as well as Bahrain from 2008 and 2010. The Championship also raced in China as a showcase in 2005, and continues to visit neighbour New Zealand, with the event growing even more this year with an added 100km of racing and a prominent ANZAC weekend timeslot.

There are plenty of considerations for Warburton as he looks at potential new race venues for V8 Supercars - particularly local time zones, so Australian fans are able to follow the action closely and see live results.

That is one of the big complications of an American race like last year's Circuit of the Americas round, which was broadcast from 6am AEST on Sunday and Monday.

While Warburton confirmed V8 Supercars continues to look for options in the US, again, the scenario must tick all the boxes.

Twinning two meetings - back-to-back race weekends - has been touted as the most financially viable option, but Warburton would not give away whether progress had been made.

"We have spent a lot of energy on the twin in America - we have got to get it right and we have got to get the economics right," he said.

Positive about the opportunities ahead for V8 Supercars, Warburton insists nothing is off the table: "We are open to any options. There is a lot of respect for the product and what we do."

He recently said on radio that the Championship is practically locked into it's current configuration until 2018, after the New South Wales, South Australian and Queensland governments renewed major events for several years.

It is expected the 2015 calendar will be released around the Wilson Security Sandown 500 in September.