State Government signs $5.6 million deal keeping Supercars in Tasmania until 2023

The State Government has signed a multimillion-dollar deal to keep Tasmania’s round of the Supercars Australia championship.

TASMANIA will host an annual round of the Supercars Championship until 2023 after the State Government signed a $5.6 million deal to keep the event in the state.

Premier Will Hodgman said the Government would also spend $1.75 million upgrading infrastructure at Symmons Plains Raceway as part of the deal.

“It’s worked well in the past, that length of contract. There will be a review at 2021 as well, just to make sure everything is on track,” Mr Hodgman said.

“But the beauty of this is that it secures our most-attended sporting event, or in fact, any event in the state. It ensures Tasmania continues to have a place in a national sporting competition.”

Holdens, Fords and Mustangs will continue to race around Symmons Plains until at least 2023. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

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Mr Hodgman denied any sticking points in negotiations were responsible for the deal not being signed before the 2019 round, the last covered by the previous deal.

The 55,000-strong crowd that attends each year over three days includes more than 7500 interstate visitors.

Supercars driver Nick Percat and Premier Will Hodgman prepare to take a lap of the Symmons Plains track after the announcement of a new deal keeping the Supercars event in Tasmania until 2023.

Peter Killick, chairman of Motorsports Tasmania which owns Symmons Plains Raceway, said the infrastructure upgrades would benefit more than just Supercars.

“Both our tracks at Symmons Plains and Baskerville are used predominately two or three times a week, not just for motorsport, for driver training and for pushbike races, running races, you name it,” he said.

“At the moment, our plans for the money are to increase the public areas — more toilets, some minor safety upgrades.

“We’re hoping the surface has got another five to 10 years still left in it.”

Supercars Championship driver Nick Percat welcomed the extension, describing Symmons Plains as a short track with “heaps of character”.

“We’ve got three real corners and you can pass at two of them, so for us, as a driver, it’s hard to extract the ultimate lap time out of it because it is such a small little track which is quite technical,” he said.

“And it puts on great racing for the fans. They can sit up the hill, up to the hairpin there and see the cars come in at 250km/h and slow down to like 40, so they get to see all ends of the spectrum.”