Officially Off, Supercars Staying Home in ‘04
4/4/2004 14:25 (Danielle Schwerin) -
Phillip Island is no cert., but Shanghai is a definite, definitely off for the 2004 season that is, having been postponed until the early stages of the 2005 season.
AVESCO’s chairman and CEO, Tony Cochrane and Wayne Cattach, announced this morning that the Shanghai event would be postponed till June 3-5, due to several issues that questioned the event’s viability for November.
“In this business sometimes you have to make a difficult decision, and I think on this occasion I’m prepared to make that decision,” Cochrane stated.
“What has to come first and foremost is how our teams are going to be looked after and as you would well appreciated with the first substaintial fly away we wanted to make sure that there were going to be no issues or no problems for our teams.”
While calling the facilities in Shanghai “state of the art”, Cochrane also noted that with the Formula 1 race being so close to the event, the problems existed in providing the infrastructure and officials required for the V8Supercar championship series.
“To move the amount of people and equipment to a new circuit thousands of kilometres away is a task of massive proportions. Some extra time will also allow the promoter to be more sertain in capturing his live audience.”
The June 3-5 date will make the Shanghai event become either round 4 or 5 of the 2005 series, and is considered more suitable given the “uncertain and inclement wheather in Shaghai in Novemeber,” stated Cochrane.
While a replacement venue remains unconfirmed, the Novemeber date will remain unchanged and it was confirmed that, alongside Phillip Island, one Australian and one New Zealand track are being considered.
The AVESCO board will be veiwing presentations from the three different venues this week, and their final decision will be resolved in the next two weeks, with the announcement expected at the end of the month.
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