10,000 trackside fans on Supercars wishlist for Townsville
Plans are in place for Townsville to have the biggest post-COVID Supercars crowd at next month’s race.
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Plans are in place for Townsville to have the biggest Supercars crowd amid the COVID-19 pandemic at next month’s race.
Supercars chief operating officer Shane Howard is hopeful as many 10,000 fans will be able to attend each day.
The daily crowd limit will be upped from 1000 from the Sydney SuperSprint last weekend to 4500 in the upcoming Darwin double-header.
“It’s so good to get crowds back. We’ve got a very strong fanbase, they all want to come and see these guys race and race hard,” Howard said.
“The racing has been fantastic so to be able to give the Queensland fanbase 10,000 per day at that Townsville event is something that is very special and that’s a special race circuit.
“Obviously Townsville is hurting at the moment as well, it’s very tough economic times there and it will be great for our fans to attend that event and help that economy as well.”
COVID-19 restrictions have meant five Melbourne-based teams and Team Sydney have been based on the Gold Coast until the trucks leave for the next event in Darwin on August 8-9.
After Townsville’s race, teams will be allowed back to Victoria.
The Supercars Championship schedule has been fluid this year due to the pandemic but with the Townsville round set to be held on August 29-30 Team 18 boss Charlie Schwerkolt has backed calls to add another double-header to the calendar, similar to Darwin which will also host the the SuperSprint on August 15-16.
“I think there’s a good opportunity for Supercars to try and get us to race in Townsville twice as well,” he said.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure to set up there for the circuit with the barriers and fencing, and it would be great for the North Queensland region which has been doing it tough recently.
“We could do two races up there, there’s no dramas with that, we’re allowed to race there which is the main thing so as long as we keep out of Victoria and Sydney for the time being there’s certainly an opportunity to do that.”
Originally published as 10,000 trackside fans on Supercars wishlist for Townsville