Search for new Adelaide 500 naming-rights sponsor on hold for ‘best offer’

The State Government will hold out for “an offer we can’t refuse” before surrendering the naming rights to the Adelaide 500 Supercars weekend.

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THE winner is ... Adelaide.

The city will carry the name of Australia’s premier street-race into the future as the State Government declared it is awaiting “an offer we can’t refuse” on naming rights sponsorship of the V8 Supercars race.

Bumper crowds, a double Holden win, and the capital city’s name broadcast to 130 countries for the first time after the death of the Clipsal 500 last year have made the 2018 Supercars 20th anniversary a runaway success.

“If someone makes us an offer we can’t refuse then we will think about it, but it is good for Adelaide,’’ Premier Jay Weatherill said.

Shane van Gisbergen of Red Bull Holden Racing Team wins the Adelaide 500. Picture: Mark Horsburgh EDGE Photographics

“We may keep it (the brand name) in the long term because it obviously promotes the state, and we have had a lot of international attention this year as the Adelaide 500.’’

Race organisers celebrated the best Sunday attendances since 2008, thanks to mild weather, the sold-out Robbie Williams Sunday night concert and free entry for children aged under 14.

The estimated 90,000 attendees on Sunday — up from 65,100 on day four last year when the Government was panned for cancelling the much-loved Sunday concert — took total attendances to 273,500, up from 244,350 last year and the best attendance since 2015.

Swiss Team Harvey Norman Nissan driver Simona De Silvestro — who is sponsored by the SA taxpayer — said the name Adelaide 500 was better for the state than the Clipsal 500 brand it had carried since 2000.

Liam and Pam Paul at the Adelaide 500. Picture: Calum Robertson

“I think Adelaide 500 is better than another name because it was confusing for people from overseas, what it was called before, so yes, let’s tell everyone about Adelaide,’’ she said.

South Australian driver Scott Pye of Walkinshaw Andretti, who was the top-placed local driver, finishing eighth on Sunday, said he was more than happy to have the event called Adelaide 500.

“It’s a fantastic event at a great location, so it’s cool to have Adelaide up in lights,” he said.

Supercars driver and Athelstone resident Todd Hazelwood also backed the name.

“It’s great that Adelaide gets behind it. It really doesn’t matter if it’s got a (company naming rights) sponsor,” the Matt Stone Racing team driver said.

The fans agreed, including Hazelwood’s uncle Doug Paul, 49, from Port Noarlunga, who said the family loved coming out to support his nephew and watch him live his dream.

“We do not need a sponsor. Who knows what Clipsal is out of South Australia? They don’t,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, British billionaire and saviour of the Whyalla steelworks, Sanjeev Gupta, was on track, prompting the latest of many whispers about naming-rights sponsorship which have included On The Run and Tesla.

Shane Van Gisbergen’s Holden Commodore ZB and Jamie Whincup’s Holden Commodore ZB on the grid, prior to the start of race 2. Picture: Daniel Kalisz / Getty

When the event was started by the Liberal government in 1999, it was called the Sensational Adelaide 500, before Clipsal inked rights to a long-term sponsorship deal.

Opposition tourism spokesman David Ridgway said a major sponsor was important for the event.

“The State Liberals will reboot the Adelaide 500 event to restore the race to its former glory,” he said.

Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer said with television audiences in 130 countries, the city’s name would be given major tourism exposure as the Adelaide 500.

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said he was confident SA could sustain two rounds of the Supercars series, which returns to SA for the inaugural Tailem Bend round in August.