A1GP to race alongside V8s?

12/11/2008 V8 Supercars Australia Chairman Tony Cochrane is very rarely wrong, but one exception was when he believed the Queensland Government would not replace Indy cars with A1GP for the Surfers Paradise round in 2009.

“The A1GP is $320 million in the red and my personal thought is that the Government wouldn’t look at that Championship,” he told BigPond Sport in September.

“Everyone has seen the figures from the Eastern Creek A1GP round and they were terrible.

“I doubt the Government would jump out of the fat and into the fire.”

But the Queensland Government has decided to ignore Cochrane’s concerns and forge an alliance with the troubled international motorsport Championship.

Premier Anna Bligh announced yesterday that the A1GP series looks likely to share the top-billing with the V8 Supercars at next year’s Surfers Paradise round.

She confirmed the long-running belief from those in the motorsport industry that the Indy cars will not return to the Gold Coast in 2009.

Instead, the Premier said an in-principle agreement had been reached with the A1GP and the Government expects to “finalise contractual arrangements within the next week”.

V8 Supercars is not yet commenting on the proposal; the V8 Supercars Australia Board will hold a teleconference today, although it may be too premature for a resolution on the replacement of the Indy cars with A1GP.

Ms Bligh talked up the positives of the international motorsport category, which is set to share the Surfers Paradise circuit with the V8s from October 22 to 25, 2009.

“The A1GP is a world class racing series with an action-packed race calendar that includes Great Britain, China, Mexico, Portugal, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa and The Netherlands,” she said.

“As a result of this deal Queensland will now be a permanent fixture on the calendar as well.

“The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport features national teams - including Australia - competing against each other on a level playing field with identical cars.”

She said the A1GP cars will lap the street circuit three to four seconds quicker than Indy cars.

“And instead of racing for a manufacturer, sponsor or driver they race for their national flag,” she said.

“The cars use cutting-edge technology with Ferrari signed up to a six-year deal to manufacture and supply all racing engines and consult on design and manufacturing.”

But it was that Ferrari deal which led to the cancellation of the first round in Italy in September this year and led to 17 cars missing the grid at the eventual season opener in the Netherlands.

Ms Bligh is confident the A1GP will be a “terrific” replacement for the Indy cars.

“It will give a new lease of life to our event on-track with all the fun and excitement off-track also set to continue,” she said.