Crowds show Tassie race is on right track
THE biggest crowd in eight years turned out to see veteran Craig Lowndes claim his first Australian supercars championship win in two years at Symmons Plains yesterday.
Lowndes ran an unblemished race in his Autobarn Racing Commodore, qualifying on pole and withstanding all challenges from Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup.
A crowd of 55,392 — an increase of 6.5 per cent on last year’s total — watched the event, with 16,098 watching practice on Friday, 19,115 for racing on Saturday and 20,179 for the main race day yesterday.
“It was an absolutely fantastic weekend,” said Supercars boss Sean Seamer.
“It really shows the incredible support for Supercars here in Tasmania and the rich history of motorsport here.
“This event completes the national footprint for Supercars and we love it.
“It’s an impressive racetrack, which makes for fantastic, tight racing.
“The weather was amazing and all the fans I spoke to really loved it.
“The fans here and the millions watching in Australia and around the world were treated to a brilliant show with plenty of action across the entire weekend.”
His comments came as team owner Garry Rogers on Saturday urged the State Government to secure a new deal for the championship to stay in Tasmania
He told the Mercury on Saturday that he was fighting off teams that wanted to drop Symmons Plains from the tour.
The current five-year, $6.125 million deal expires when the chequered flag drops at the end of next year’s round.
Formal discussions are yet to take place, but Prem- ier Will Hodgman met with Mr Seamer yesterday for a briefing and walked among the field of 26 supercars on the starting grid before climbing in to the starter’s box to set the field loose.
He did not comment on a possible deal, but Betty Klimenko, owner of reigning Bathurst champion team
Erebus , backed Rogers’s call for a new deal, telling the Mercury: “Some teams in pit lane are trying to stop the championship coming to Tassie.
“They would rather just mosey around on the mainland, going to the Gold Coast and Sydney. This is a true national championship and it would be stupid not to have it around here.”