V8 Supercars targets September for KL decision

The series ran a five-car demo at this year’s inaugural event, a toe-in-the-water exercise that could well lead to the activation of a heads of agreement that would see V8 Supercars run championship rounds on the tricky street circuit between 2016 and 2019.

Buoyed by the first visit, V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton says he hopes to have a better idea of whether the series will return in 2016 with all 26 cars next year by next month’s Sandown 500 event.

“There is a little bit of urgency around the date,” Warburton told Motorsport.com.

“They’re now talking about a number of dates, so that has a roll-on effect for us in terms of current events and dates in the calendar. I’ll go back to Malaysia in the next couple of weeks and we’ll sit down and talk about things like that.

“But overall, we’d like to be in a position where we’re closer by Sandown, from the perspective of calendars and those kinds of things.

“But this stuff can’t be rushed, we’ve got to work it all out, make sure both parties can deliver, and go from there.”

Polish required, but the potential is there

While the inaugural event wasn’t trouble-free, such as practice having been delayed due to ongoing work on the circuit, Warburton says that all things considered it was a successful debut.

And while V8s have some demands ahead of signing on for full championship rounds, he also says he is confident that, logistics-wise, solutions can be found.

“It was a pretty audacious and ambitious plan to bring it together,” Warburton added.

“There are definitely elements that need overall improvement, but ultimately the organisers should be congratulated for putting it together and pulling it off.

“The potential is there. We’ve talked specifically with the organisers about what our requirements would need to be, and there’s nothing that would be too difficult. Where the driveways from major hotels and residences caused the major bumps, with re-surfacing and levelling out is all pretty easy stuff.

“There are a few logistics things we’ve identified, areas that we would need improved. We covered a lot of ground.

“But first things first, at the moment we’re leaving the organisers alone. It was a massive undertaking, and they need to look at the event themselves.

“They’ve certainly indicated that they were delighted with it. They’ve got to want to do it again, and do it at the level that they’ve done it, and put some more polish in to some areas.

“We’d love to be there, if all those things can be delivered.”