Supercars explains separate overseas series vision

Incoming Supercars CEO James Warburton insists the local championship remains the priority amid interest in creating a separate, Asian-based series operating with Gen3 cars by 2027.

Speaking with media in Perth, Warburton said he has a desire to take Supercars beyond Australia and New Zealand, but suggested a different model is required.

Warburton explained distinct models; one being support to a lead category overseas, and using a flyaway or duplicate kit to ease logistics efforts.

Another plan is centred on running a separate series to the existing Supercars Championship with a second set of Gen3 cars based in Asia.

“What I’ve talked about is geared around Asia... where we have a duplicate kit of cars, and they are based overseas,” Warburton explained.

“We have a 14-round championship in Australia and New Zealand, which is set; that’s the championship.

“Then maybe in between weeks, if we can create a model that works, it’s a significant investment in the car and the kit, you can have races in some of those off weeks.

“So you could have a scenario where you might be able to develop 20 rounds of racing and 20 rounds of action, but in two distinct championships.

“That’s the beauty of RACE and their ownership because they can help in terms of investing or finding the investors to go into that business model with the teams that want to participate.”

Warburton stressed that the Asia market is favourable given the similar time zones, saying in a broadcast Q&A: "I think we can, but it's important to say to our fans, Australia and New Zealand will always be 14 rounds, 12 in Australia and two in New Zealand.

"And it's really about looking at a duplicate kit of cars and of equipment and thinking about how we can expand either as a support category to other mainstream categories or through an Asian championship, which the time zones work very well.

“We can beam those races back and obviously complement what we're doing in terms of the Australian championship.”

Warburton said a target start for the separate series could be as early as 2027, with plans to present to stakeholders late this year. However, he reiterated that the local Supercars Championship will always be the priority and the centre of the business, adding: “This is not something that’s going to roll out for ‘26, this is something that is going to take some time to put in place. But the model could be anything, you know?

“If you’re looking at sprint rounds and no pit stops, you could actually have servicing crew by brand (manufacturer). You could do it very differently to what you’re doing.

“I think, commercially, you mightn’t take all the drivers, all the teams might not participate. Some teams might want more participation, run some of their primary drivers, obviously run some local drivers. That’s where the sponsorship dollars are going to come from.

“You’ve got to optimise the Australian/New Zealand championship. So those 14 rounds cannot be affected by anything you do. Without a shadow of a doubt, that’s the business.

“This is a separate business. This is something completely separate. It might have management overview in it, but it’s going to have a local team, it’s going to have a lot of logistics, there might be event promoters.

“We’ve always messed around with international [events] and we’ve had some wins, some losses, some wild swings. If someone’s going to pay you an insane amount of money, you’re going to take two 747s and you’re going to fly away and fit a round in.

“[But] it’s unrealistic, so we’ve got to do something different. And we should be. We should take this great category to particularly the motorsport mad Asia. That’s where there’s huge opportunity for us to grow.”