Please think again on 500
Whincup ire as Adelaide race axed
SUPERCARS legend Jamie Whincup has pleaded for the Adelaide 500 to be revived while V8 great Mark Skaife says the sport lost “its number one event” after the shock axing of the marquee race.
In a major blow to the Supercars championship, the South Australian government announced it was scrapping the Adelaide 500 – one of the headline races on the series calendar – due to the impact of COVID-19.
It’s the third major loss for the sport in a week following Team Penske’s announcement it was pulling out of Supercars and confirmation of three-time series champion Scott McLaughlin’s move to race IndyCars in the United States full-time in 2021.
The decision to cancel one of Supercars’ biggest and most popular events sent shockwaves through Australian motorsport.
A 11-time race winner at Adelaide, seven-time Supercars champion and Triple Eight star Whincup described the move to terminate the event as a major loss.
“I can’t sugar-coat this, losing the Adelaide 500 feels like we’ve lost a sibling,” said Whincup, who has won more races than any driver in Adelaide. “While I can understand the decision from the SA government to stop the event in these difficult times, we pray they are open to discussions to put the Adelaide Parklands event back on the calendar sometime in the future.”
The Adelaide 500 has owned a place on the Supercars calendar since 1999 and has traditionally provided a blockbuster opening to the season.
Skaife, a four-time race winner in Adelaide, said that Supercars had lost its biggest event.
“For the last 15 years at least I have been saying that it’s the number one event of the year for us,” Skaife said.
“We know that Bathurst has got all the tradition and Grand Final status, but as an event, the number of people that attend and the way that the atmosphere has continued to evolve over there … it’s not just South Australia’s biggest sporting event, but one of Australia’s biggest sporting events, bordering on 300,000 people over four days.
“It blindsided everybody and as a decision from the South Australian government I am really surprised.
“When you contemplate the sectors that have been smashed through COVID, the hospitality and tourism sectors clearly are the ones that would benefit from an event like ours.”