Auckland is looking to fill Hamilton’s V8 boots with a proposal to hold Supercar races at Pukekohe.

An Auckland Council committee will vote on Thursday on whether it will stump up $NZ2.1 million a year for five years to stage the race at the motorsport park.

Mayor Len Brown is backing the recommendation to support the “significant economic anchor event”.

“With the generation of around 50,000 visitor nights and a return on investment estimated at more than $NZ7 million, I am confident that councillors will give their backing to the proposal,” he said.

Funding for the race, scheduled for April next year, will come from the council’s major events fund.

This April’s Hamilton 400 was the final race to be held in the city after the council baulked at the cost of staging the annual race weekend.

The outlay was estimated to be more than $NZ40 million since 2008.

Mr Brown said the decision was conditional on V8 Supercars Australia delivering the event, matching funding from the Ministry of Economic Development and agreement with the Counties Racing Club.