Supercars CEO Shane Howard has declared the Gold Coast a focal point of the series’ future with racing under lights on the agenda.

Ahead of the GC500’s Friday launch, Howard confirmed investigations into night racing on the Glitter Strip were ongoing.

The concept was firmly in the frame before the Covid-19 pandemic forced organisers to hit the brakes.

Mr Howard said the concept would inject a breath of fresh air into the series, attracting new audiences and revitalising the Supercars season.

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While no timeline was set in stone, he said such a concept was at the forefront of plans for future growth.

“All events have to evolve, and particularly when you look at this event it’s been here for over 30 years and you’ve always got to evolve with trends and meet peoples expectations,” Mr Howard said.

“We did have an agreement from the state government to go to a night race, just prior to Covid hitting.

“I think most people would have seen how spectacular the Singapore Grand Prix was for example, and we had the opportunity to do that on the Gold Coast, which would’ve been amazing.

“Unfortunately when Covid hit there were stronger priorities. With Covid the funding was obviously repurposed to help in that situation.

“But it’s not off the table, certainly not from us, and we would like to reinvestigate that with the government at the right time.”

While Howard confirmed the GC500 was poised to return to the region well beyond its current 2024 deal, ultimately it would rely on success through to that time.

Both the state government and Gold Coast City Council have backed the event for the next two years, however its value will need to be demonstrated in that time to ensure its prosperity. So far so good, according to Howard.

Howard said on the back of the Bathurst 1000 – which drew in more than four million viewers with close to 200,000 in attendance – the GC500 had been positioned to announce its comeback in a big way based on near sold out corporate facility and strong general admission sales.

He said if the events delivered in the manner it did prior to Covid-19, it would likely see Gold Coast locked in on the Supercars calendar.

“Absolutely, the Gold Coast it is a very special race in our calendar and we want the championship in our calendar for a long time to come,” Howard said.

“The event has to deliver, and it always does – so the economic returns that the event delivers for the city and the state are significant and that’s the driving force for government support.

“There’s a lot of assessment from government that goes in to supporting major events.

“It’s obviously attendance, visitation, the economic spend in to the region. Then also the significance of promoting tourism and visitation to the region.

“It’s all of those triggers that go into account and I believe it delivers valuably in those areas and that’s why we’ll have favourable discussions with the government and city

“Governments only support events if they’re delivering, and this has delivered in the past.”

WHERE TO NEXT?

Intent on ensuring the Supercars season remains a completely national showcase, Howard all but confirmed the sustainability of a race taking place in each Australian state.

Talks of taking the event overseas — as has been the case in the past in Bahrain, Abu Dubai and America — will continue, according to the Supercars CEO.

However he was adamant the first and foremost priority would remain locking in a genuine national championship; solidifying the place of Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

He said the 2023 focus would hone in on the roll out of the new Gen Three vehicles — the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang — and highlighting them to local audiences.

“That will be a catalyst for change, us debuting the new cars, and they will debuted on another street circuit in Newcastle,” Mr Howard said.

“We obviously have a strong focus to service all our fans in Australia and all our states in Australia.

“We’ve got strong support from all states in doing that. We make sure we service our fans here and we’ll look at potential opportunities overseas after.

“We’ll work with the opportunities overseas going forward but for 2023 our strong focus is to really the Gen Three project, make sure we’re a truly national sport so we can compete in every state and the Northern Territory and then work out our agreement going forward.”

However where the Supercars body will need to think strategically is keeping their New Zealand audience engaged, following the closure of Pukekohe Park.

The Auckland-based facility will be repurposed and no longer used for motorsport events, but Howard was determined to ensure races remained across the ditch.

However as it stands there has been no new venue locked in, with Howard confirming those discussions were still ongoing before locking in a 2023 season schedule.

“We had an enormous crowd at New Zealand, it was very special and an unbelievable atmosphere to have a crowd of that size at the venue,” Mr Howard said

“We’ve got a huge fan base in New Zealand and we’ve got great support from government to be there.

“We’re working with them currently, they want us there for the long term and we’re just working through that proposal.

“Our intent is to be there, the government and the fans want us to be there, it’s just the timing now due to the loss of the venue.”

MERGING WITH A POWERHOUSE

Taking Supercars overseas may be a secondary priority compared to its national footprint, however Mr Howard said there was scope to capitalise on the success of the Formula One.

More than 3 million viewers tuned in to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne earlier this year across the three days, with close to 420,000 live spectators storming Albert Park.

It is an upward trend for the sport which seems to be shared across the globe, with October’s Singapore Grand Prix attracting a record crowd of its own of 302,000.

While Howard said it was still too early to confirm they would one day forge a consistent partnership with Formula One, he admitted the idea had merit to drawing a new demographic of spectators across the globe.

“We would embrace those opportunities, I think Formula One at the moment is on a massive high, the awareness of Formula One the attendances are incredible,’ he said.

“It’s an incredible sport, so if there’s opportunities to support them in the future then that would be very favourable.

“We’re really open to offshore opportunities. We are the primary support for the Formula One race in the Australian Grand Prix and there’s a lot of support for our events to be overseas and potentially with some Formula One events.”

Inside running: Legend’s secrets fueling emerging force

— October 25

He came into his maiden Supercars season with arguably the biggest shoes to fill in the sport.

But as he plots a top five 2022 finish on home turf, Gold Coast speedster Broc Feeney is adamant meeting the standards of the great Jamie Whincup never crossed his mind,

Whincup drew the curtain on his full-time career behind the wheel at the end of last year, riding into the sunset as the record holder for most Supercars Championship wins (124).

It has not exactly been a quiet retirement however for the 39-year-old, who remains the team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering and co-drove alongside Feeney at Bathurst.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s GC500, Feeney said it had been a surreal experience being mentored by the seven-time championship winner given how he had grown up idolising the motorsport icon.

But he said never did he feel the burden of expectation when he was first called up to the Supercars arena, a mindset that would not be changing when he makes his debut on the Glitter Strip.

“It’s just been (the chance) to work with Jamie this year, I’ve learnt a lot off him. He’s opened up a lot more to me than to anyone in the past; it’s his first year out of retirement so he’s happy to hand that on to me,” Feeney said.

“There’s not one thing that stands out, it’s a lot of little things. Jamie is pretty well known for the work ethic he puts in and attention to detail on everything.

“Even when he sits in the car he has a reason for everything and to listen to that makes you question why you have things a certain way.

“We’ve been working together really well and gelling and you get to know each other more and talk openly about everything. Pairing up with him was special, he’s the guy who dominated for so long.

“You grow up watching V8s and there was one guy who dominated for so many years.”

Perhaps the biggest learning curve for Feeney throughout the campaign has been developing an ability to cast setbacks to the back of his mind.

That practice came to the fore in his last outing at the Bathurst 1000.

Spinning out of control in the first lap, Feeney briefly feared that his hopes had been dashed barely 20 seconds into the marquee showcase on the Supercars calendar.

And yet the 20-year-old was able to rally, with Whincup by his side, and together they salvaged fifth spot – with Feeney now just 100 points off the top five in the championship.

Those messages in resilience and perseverance were focal points of his discussions when he attended his old high school on Tuesday, where he spoke to students at All Saints Anglican School.

“They certainly had some hard hitting questions, they had some good ones actually. Normally it’s about crashes and how fast you go, but they were asking about chasing your dreams and they were all very interested,” Feeney said.

“They asked if I ever thought about giving up and I suppose the answer is no but you’re trying to hopefully have some sort of influence on these kids and motivate them to chase their dreams.

“It was just awesome to go back, when they said that they wanted to do something at school they weren’t sure if I would say yes but I jumped at it.”

The GC500 will kick off in Surfers Paradise on Friday.

nick.wright@news.com.au