Supercars are back, but what’s the future for the NZ round?
Before an engine is even revved on their return to New Zealand, a Kiwi motorsport magnate has the wheels in motion to get more Supercars action here. In fact, as soon as the maiden staging of the Taupō Super400 wraps up tomorrow at Taupō International Motorsport Park, track owner Tony Quinn plans to hit up event officials to discuss prospects of a double round being held on this side of the ditch.
The Scotland-born, Brisbane-based Quinn is one of the biggest players in the New Zealand motorsport scene, and has the assets, and vision, to make a soupedup staging a distinct possibility.
After building Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, which opened in 2013, he bought Hampton Downs in north Waikato in 2015, then in the space of a week in 2021 he acquired both the Taupō track and Queensland Raceway.
This weekend sees the V8s roar on Kiwi soil once more after a one-year hiatus from the calendar. The hiatus followed the closure of Pukekohe Park as a motorsport venue after the 2022 event and no suitable alternative being found for 2023.
It will be just the second Supercars event here in five years, in fact, after Covid-19 had seen the scrapping of the New Zealand rounds in 2021 and 2020. The latter had originally been slated to be held at Hampton Downs due to the prohibition of racing at Pukekohe on Anzac Day.
Taupō has been awarded a threeyear deal to host, helped by a $5 million investment from the government Major Events Fund, and will become the country’s third venue to stage an official Supercars round, after Hamilton had hosted a street circuit from 2008 to 2012.
But Quinn − who since 2021 has also owned a 40% share of Triple Eight Racing, which now boasts championship frontrunners Will Brown and Broc Feeney − is optimistic it will be just the start of a bigger presence for Supercars on this side of the Tasman.
“There’s a lot to do to make that happen, but, trust us, we’re working on it,” he says. “We’ll sit there [after this weekend’s event] and have a talk with my team and their team, and see what everybody has to say.
“It makes absolute commercial sense to sea-freight the cars over ... there’s absolutely no need to fly cars in [as they have done this year] ... do a sprint race one weekend, go somewhere else, do an endurance race the next weekend, and sea-freight the cars back.
“Put it like this, if I owned Supercars, for sure I would be doing two rounds in New Zealand, end of story. But it might not happen next year, it might be a bit ambitious, because they have to do some stuff in Australia as well. It might be 2026.”
In a statement, Supercars chief executive Shane Howard said the return of the event to New Zealand was a significant milestone.
The country was “a key market, with a dedicated and enthusiastic fan base, that has produced some of our biggest stars”,
He welcomed the idea of bringing more action to these shores. “We are always open to exploring opportunities to expand our presence in New Zealand.”
Any potential expansion would, ironically, come at a time when the country was minus a star Kiwi driver on the circuit – this the first year since 2006 that it does not involve either Shane van Gisbergen (Nascar, formerly Triple Eight Racing) or Scott McLaughlin (IndyCar), who claimed three championships apiece between 2016 and 2022.
But Kiwi motorsport legend Greg Murphy doesn’t see that as a hindrance to getting another event up and running. “There is amazing talent primed to fill the gap ... we’re not left wanting at all at this stage,” he says, of a five-strong NZ contingent led by Matt Payne − who scored a maiden victory in last year’s finale in Adelaide as well as two podium finishes in Melbourne last month.
The contingent also includes Payne’s Grove Racing team-mate Richie Stanaway, who sits one place ahead of him on the ladder in sixth, and Andre Heimgartner, Jaxon Evans and Ryan Wood.
The idea of more racing action in New Zealand is obviously music to Murphy’s ears, though he does warn it would also be a delicate, challenging balance to guard against overkill.
“New Zealand’s economy is such that putting two events together in a short space of time, you’re going to rob one to pay the other,” he says.
On the current calendar, the standard gap between each of the 12 rounds is four weeks, though there are a couple with just two-week intervals.
Back-to-back weekends wouldn’t be ideal, Murphy reckons.
He’d rather they were a fortnight apart, though he notes that this then would raise the issue of logistics and cost around whether teams flew back to Australia or stayed on in New Zealand.
So just where would this potential double-header work best?
For starters, in the eyes of Murphy, who incidentally holds the title of motorsport manager at Quinn’s three venues, Taupō is going to be an instant hit, with tickets for today and tomorrow already sold out, and with government money to be “returned in droves, instantaneously, into the economy”.
That the track was close to the city centre and tourism hot spots was something ‘‘we didn’t have with Pukekohe”, he says. “A lot of people obviously stayed in Auckland. Pukekohe’s not a tourist place, so it didn’t have that connection that Taupō’s got.
“Hampton Downs is obviously another amazing race track, and the population supports that, albeit you don’t get the same vibe as what you’re going to get in Taupō.
“Then down south you’ve got Highlands − an amazing facility, and to showcase Supercars at that venue, you’d have pictures like you’d never see anywhere else, absolutely stunning. But it’s a challenge to get to.”
Outside that, the only real option would be Euromarque Motorsport Park in Ruapuna, near Christchurch.
“The race track there I really enjoy, and obviously Christchurch is big enough to handle an event like that,” Murphy says.
“The problem is there’s no facility, it hasn’t had any investment put into it in a very, very long time. So it really doesn’t stack up as far as providing a proper venue to give Supercars everything it needs.”
For now, though, all eyes and energy will be on Taupō, and ensuring its debut runs smoothly.
Howard notes the town secured hosting rights due to “its excellent facilities, track layout and strong track record of hosting successful major events”, adding, “its location also makes it accessible to fans from all over the North Island, contributing to the event's success and appeal”.
Murphy couldn’t agree more.
“It’s a wonderful venue and a great part of the world,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to feeling the vibes, I think it’s going to be electrifying.”
That extends to the on-course action, too, with the 51-year-old, 28-race winner, expecting “some really close-quarters racing” on a track he describes as great and also quite complex, as teams try to manage their strategies across the two 200km races.
“It’s not a hugely fast track, it’s got some great corners and combinations of corners,” Murphy says.
“There’s some brand-new sections but also the majority of it’s still an older surface ... it’ll have grip in some areas and then very little grip in other areas, so it’ll be a bit of a challenge in that respect ... we’ll probably hear a lot about it over the weekend from the drivers and teams.”
And rather than that potentially putting it in a negative light, it’s something Murphy believes will only help to light up the spectacle.
“The more grumblings and the more angst and drivers getting into each other, on, and off, the race track, that’s what we want,” he admits.
“We need some strong rivalries, and the last round at the Grand Prix [in Melbourne] there was a fair bit going on, and a bit of verbal rock-throwing as well.
“It’s great for the show and great for the fans, should be great for television.”
And all surely a helpful steer in the direction of doubling down across the ditch.