Gold Coast 500 Supercars race locked in with new three year deal

The Gold Coast Supercars race will be extended for another three years in a deal which secures the Surfers Paradise race until 2027.

Gold Coast Supercars will roar through Surfers Paradise for three more years – and will stay a day race until at least 2027.

Supercars, on Tuesday, confirmed the Gold Coast 500 would be remain in the city for the next three years, expecting to bring $100 million into the Queensland economy each year.

However, Supercars chief operating officer Tim Watsford said while they will “never say never”, the race is locked in for the day time – despite a push in some circles for night racing.

“In this current term, we’ve agreed that [the race] will remain as a day race but we’ll never say never, into the future.

“From a broadcast perspective, there’s probably a joint desire between Supercars and council and the state to show what we’ve got by way of beaches and your beautiful coastline of Surfers Paradise.

“So not until 2027 but we’ll never say never after that for sure,” he said.

This comes after Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek said “it’s not at all a criticism of GC500 but (at one point) we were going to have night racing and races under lights but that just disappeared”.

Premier Steven Miles told the Bulletin the Government was “putting the pedal to the metal” with races on the Coast and in Townsville locked in to longer contracts.

He said the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 and NTI Townsville 500 – first started in 2010 and now keys to the event calendar – would inject $100 million in the state’s economy and generate 280,000 visitor nights.

The GC500 is set to hit the streets of Surfers Paradise from October 25-27 with the 2025 dates to be announced in early October.

“This is a huge win for motorsports fans and a huge win for the visitor economy,” Mr Miles said.

Premier Steven Miles to announce extension of Supercars race on the Gold Coast.

“These events will deliver more than 280,000 visitor nights and inject approximately $100 million into Queensland’s economy for each year of this extended deal.

“These Supercars events are some of the biggest events on the Queensland calendar bringing visitors to the host destinations from far and wide.

“I am committed to keeping Queensland on the grid with world-class events that benefit our communities and drive significant economic returns.”

Tourism and Sport Minister Michael Healy said Supercars events attracted huge crowds to Queensland, accelerating tourism and supporting local businesses.

“Through our partnerships with Supercars and local stakeholders, we are ensuring these events continue to generate high-octane returns for our state.

“I look forward to keeping these engines running hot for another three years,” he said.

Acting Gold Coast Mayor Donna Gates said the announcement was a “fantastic day for our city”. She has earlier attacked critics of the race, saying it did not need a “refresh”.

“I applaud Supercars, Experience Gold Coast, and the Queensland government for making this happen,” she said.

Flashback to last year — large crowds on the hill at the northern end of the track. Picture: Brendan Radke.

“Not only does the event attract tens of thousands of visitors to the Coast, but it also showcases our city to millions of race fans globally. Drivers, start your engines for 2025 and beyond.”

Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn said the three-year extension was great news for the city.

“We know this event brings more than 200,000 people to the city annually, the economic impact alone is more than $60 million.

“The partnership with Supercars is very important, Experience Gold Coast and City of Gold Coast have been working very closely with Supercars to extend this deal.

“Growing long term partnerships is very important to the city and to the city’s economy.

“It’s very important that we extend partnerships like this, we don’t just want one-off events all the time, and extending (GC500) for three years really cements the relationship that the Gold Coast has with Supercars,” he said.

Supercars CEO Shane Howard thanked the government and city for its support of the race.

“These events not only bring significant tourism and economic benefits but also create local jobs and showcase Queensland to a vast television audience, both in Australia and abroad. They’ve been incredibly successful by all measures,” he said.

“Our teams, drivers, and fans love these events, and we’re excited to have them locked in as core parts of our calendar for the years ahead. We’re eagerly looking forward to the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 in just over a month.”

Mr Watsford said they were hoping to draw even more visitors to the Gold Coast for this year’s race.

“Over 200,000 came through the gates last year. We’re hoping to knock that off in a couple of weeks time in October.

“From a sport perspective, this is definitely a crown jewel, street circuits aren’t easy to build, aren’t easy to get them to stack by way of profit.

“This has been now staple on the calendar for 30 years, and hopefully it’s there for another 30 years to come,” he said.

Red Bull Racing Team 888 driver Broc Feeney in the Friday practice session of the Gold Coast 500 V8 Supercars, held on the streets of Surfers Paradise. Picture: Brendan Radke,

Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said Supercar events helped

build on the value of the $850 million 2024 Queensland events calendar.

“Securing major events like these play a pivotal role in our goals to build our events portfolio to be worth $2 billion to Queensland’s economy by 2032,” she said.

Supercars driver James Courtney said the Gold Coast race was always an exciting time for him.

“I remember being a little kid watching Indy cars here, and then obviously coming here in Supercars...

“It just produces such great racing, I think the beauty of bringing the action to the to the town is it just makes it so much easier for everyone to come, we always get really big crowds, there’s always a really good atmosphere,” he said.

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Originally published as Gold Coast 500 Supercars race locked in with new three year deal