Supercars have been taking place in Pukekohe Park since 2013
Tony Quinn believes it is only a matter of time before Supercars host an event on one or both of their New Zealand circuits.
Quinn, who recently acquired a stake in Triple Eight Race Engineering, owns Hampton Downs Motorsport Park and Highlands Motorsport Park.
The Repco Supercars Championship was scheduled to make its debut at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park last year.
The circuit on the outskirts of Auckland and north of Hamilton was added to the 2020 calendar due to a constitution of the Auckland Council that prevents races from taking place in Pukekohe Park on ANZAC day.
Ultimately, the coronavirus pandemic paid off a New Zealand championship round last season and missed Quinn’s chance to host supercars.
Hampton Downs was being considered for supercars return in 2021, though that was put to bed when the championship confirmed Pukekohe Park’s comeback.
While Supercars said its focus is on making a stable return to New Zealand and opting for Pukekohe Park, category CEO Sean Seamer said Hampton Downs would remain on its periphery.
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park
Quinn believes there will be a time when a shift will be made to one of his circuits.
“I can tell you everyone I love about Sean Down would love to come to Hampton Downs,” Quinn told Speedcafe.com.
“I think we are all trying to make moves that have to move away from Pukekohe at some point, and how do we best do that? What’s the best way to say goodbye to Pukekohe and say hello to Hampton Downs? “
Highlands Motorsport Park, located in Cromwell, about 40 minutes outside Queenstown, has long been rumored as an option.
The circuit hosted the Australian GT but has not had a high profile international event in several years.
Quinn said Supercars looked at racing in the South Island.
“Someday … I’m confident the V8 will be at Hampton Downs and / or Highlands,” said Quinn.
“We even talked about Highlands and how it would work and stuff like that.
“I will keep the tracks at the highest level and of the highest quality.
“I am convinced that one day we will see the V8 on one of my tracks.”
Highlands Motorsport Park
The Supercars event in Pukekohe Park is supported by the Auckland Unlimited Business and Culture Agency (formerly Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development).
Quinn said that while he would like to see Hampton Downs host supercars, it is unlikely that he will unless he has the council’s backing.
“We all talked about it,” Quinn explained.
“The reality is that Hampton Downs is in the poor Waikato area and Pukekohe is in the Auckland area, which has all the money.
“You get a fair bit of money from Auckland [Unlimited]And I won’t put my hand in my pocket to match it.
“Basically, Pukekohe leaves as long as this situation is constant [to host Supercars]. ”
“I have to tell you, there is a lot of politics behind the scenes,” he added.
“It’s half politics and half common sense, as the Waikato Tourism Development Agency says [Auckland Unlimited]”Well, even if it’s Hampton Downs, Auckland will still get the benefit,” or some of the benefit.
“Then you have to politically collect the money between you. I’ll leave it up to you to sort that out. We’re just saying we have a facility that she’d like to have.
“We won’t charge them anything. We think it would be good for the V8 to go there. We’ll just see what happens. “
The possibility of supercars hitting a double header between Pukekohe Park and Hampton Downs has been questioned.
That will remain an option in the years to come.
