Supercars confident of new Pukekohe deal
Supercars is confident of inking a fresh three-year deal to race at Pukekohe, despite the lack of an official announcement this weekend.
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images
With the circuit listed on the calendar for next season, and this the last year of the current three-year deal, there were suggestions that a new deal between the track and the series could be confirmed this weekend.
While that has proved not to be the case, Supercars CEO James Warburton reckons there are no surprises on the horizon, and that a new deal – in line with the three-year deal with sponsor ITM announced earlier this year – is just weeks away.
"I think it is very positive," said Warburton.
"New Zealand is a great market for us. Obviously the strength of our Kiwi drivers at the pointy end of the championship is something we have marketed heavily and it given us a very strong result here.
"[Pukekohe] is in our draft calendar [for 2018] so we absolutely plan to be here. We have agreed terms and now it is just a long-form drafting arrangement we are going through with ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development).
"Neither of us expect any surprises. These things take time, agreeing core KPI’s and those types of things. I would imagine that would all be concluded by the end of this month.
"We obviously came to an agreement a little while ago and there wasn't any doubt that we wanted to be here or the benefit we bring from an ATEED point of view."
ATEED, meanwhile, is remaining tight-lipped on the status of the new deal.
"Contract negotiations are ongoing," said general manager Steve Armitage.
"ATEED will conclude these negotiations before we make any further announcements."
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