Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
A racing lifeline has been thrown to Phillip Island on the eve of it losing the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
The famous Victorian circuit will host a Supercars championship final-series round for five years from 2027.
The series grand final will remain in Adelaide and a circuit kicked off next season’s 14-race schedule to make room for the Phillip Island stop.
Supercars have not raced on the island since 2019.
“We haven’t seen a Supercar there in anger for a while,” Tickford Racing driver Thomas Randal told reporters on Friday.
Racing legend Garth Tander has fond memories of the track where he earned his maiden Supercars round win and secured the 2007 championship.
“It’s been the scene of many great Supercar events and moments over the course of Supercars history,” the six-time Bathurst winner said.
“Phillip Island, the layout there, will absolutely suit … the current generation cars.
“We’ve seen that at Albert Park, which is a circuit much like Phillip Island.”
Phillip Island lost hosting rights of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in February.
MotoGP officials wanted Albert Park’s Formula One circuit to host the event to boost mainstream appeal, but the Victorian government rejected the proposal.
It opened the door for South Australia to swoop, with Adelaide to host the MotoGP for six years from 2027 on a track designed on a blueprint of the city’s former F1 circuit.
The future of Phillip Island’s track had been up in the air since South Australia’s heist of the MotoGP and the World Superbikes, which are moving to The Bend from 2028.
Victorian Major Events Minister Anthony Carbines said the state government would be ready to “step up and step in” if the MotoGP’s move to Adelaide didn’t work out.
“At the moment, we’re focused on delivering a significant send-off in the next couple of weeks at Phillip Island,” he said.
“But I think also (there’s) a bit of karma in South Aus. We’ll wait and see whether they can it together and put it on.
“For sporting fans, we hope that’s the case.”
The loss of the grand prix was a massive economic blow to Phillip Island, the site of the race since 1997 after previously hosting in 1989 and 1990.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Travis Auld acknowledged the Supercars wasn’t a like-for-like replacement.
“We see it as the start of a new chapter, not a continuation of the previous one,” he said.
More than $80 million in annual economic activity is linked to the MotoGP and World Superbikes, according to Destination Phillip Island.
About 60,000 fans turned up to the island’s last Supercars race, while Mr Auld said he expected more than 150,000 to attend the venue’s MotoGP swan song from October 23-25.
“We’ll see,” Auld said when asked if the Supercars could bring the same level of interest or economic benefit to the region.
“Things have changed a lot in Supercars since 2019. (It’s a) much bigger fanbase, a much more diverse fanbase.”
