V8 Supercars’ future in the United States looks assured after the overwhelming success of the sport’s American debut, and organisers committing to expanding the race next year.
The official crowd of 68,891 for the three-day event at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas stunned even the most bullish supporters of the V8s’ first foray into the United States.
It is by far the most successful attempt to export the sport beyond Australasia – the US crowd far better and more engaged than anything failed races in China, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi have offered up.
The crowd figure matches or betters many Australian V8 meets.
Now V8 Supercars officials are angling for a second race in the region as early as next year, with high-level talks taking place with others interested in hosting the series.
Circuit of the Americas president Steve Sexton says the V8s have been a huge hit, and has promised to add off-track entertainment next year to further bolster the event, which has a contract to race there until 2017.
The state-of-the-art track also has an on-site amphitheatre which hosts rock concerts.
“The casual fan in Texas will come out for big events and appreciates a large-scale entertainment event,” Sexton said.
“Our plan is to continue to develop the series and develop the personalities.
“As we go through the years of the contract, we’ll have the opportunity to build on what’s happened this weekend.”
While thousands of Australians travelled to Austin for the race, they were bettered in on-track numbers by curious locals as America’s 13th largest city threw its full support behind the race.
V8 officials ideally want to add a second North or Central American race to the calendar in future years, making the $3 million cost of freighting the series to the region even more cost-effective.
While their contract precludes them from another race in Texas, a venue like Road America in Wisconsin, in the north-central United States, would be ideal.
Mexico is also understood to be under discussion as a possible location for a second race.
As the country borders Texas, it would be an excellent logistic choice.
Drivers and teams were impressed by the US experiment.
“That crowd figure’s a good indication that we should come back again next year,” four-time V8 champion Jamie Whincup said.
“The autograph queues were about 50-50 Australians and locals. Fantastic weekend, couldn’t be happier.”
