V8s unlikely to race overseas in 2015

V8 Supercars’ American dream is over, and so too is their hope of holding international races next season.

The category’s contract with the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas, was this week terminated after just one event in May 2013.

V8s chief executive James Warburton had been keen to twin the event with another race meeting in the US to help justify the huge transit costs involved.

But without COTA on board, the idea is no longer possible.

“We’ve spent a lot of time and effort with America, which is unfortunately a bit wasted,” Warburton told v8supercars.com.au.

His bid to have V8 Supercars appear as a support category to Formula One – as it does at the Australian Grand Prix and previously did in Abu Dhabi – has also failed.

“We had promoters wanting us there … but we got knocked back (by Formula One Management),” he said.

“That’s where the focus has been, and now we go back into Asia and some other areas and develop the plan.”

The 2015 calendar, to be released before next month’s Sandown 500, is likely to only include domestic events plus a round in New Zealand.

However, Warburton said he was confident at least one international race will be on the calendar in 2016.

“They’ve got to make sense from a long-term point of view,” he said.

“They’ve got to be in the right timezone for Australian viewers … and to move the presentation we’ve got, with the quality we’ve got, no matter how we look at it, we just can’t get away … without two 747s (to transport all the gear).

“If we wanted to compromise the show, we could do something different, but this is not really what we should be about and everyone agrees that’s the case.”

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