Austin, Texas, Oct. 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Circuit of The Americas today announced a formal, multi-year agreement with the V8 Supercars Series that will allow the Australian touring car series to make its North American debut at the new Central Texas sports and entertainment venue May 17-19, 2013. Circuit of The Americas will open to the public this fall as host to the much-anticipated 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™.
The V8 Supercars Championship is made up of 15 championship events across Australia, New Zealand and Abu Dhabi, with the United States joining the schedule in 2013. The highly popular series is the world's leading Touring Car Championship recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and enjoys regular carriage by the SPEED™ television network.
"V8 Supercars brings to us an extremely exciting series that's a great addition to our motorsport line up at Circuit of The Americas," Circuit President Steve Sexton said. "The series features great competition from a wonderfully colorful collection of teams and drivers, who enhance their on-track action with great personalities and storylines. They are strong advocates of a major-entertainment atmosphere at their events. We know U.S. race fans will find the V8 series tremendously engaging and will look forward to its 2013 debut at our new facility in Austin."
"It's fantastic to be part of Circuit of The America's events roster for the coming year and to bring V8 Supercars' unique brand of action-packed racing to our growing U.S. fan base," V8 Supercars Chief Executive Officer David Malone said. "The Austin Circuit is coming together beautifully and will offer our teams and drivers fabulous facilities from which to compete--and one of the most challenging road courses ever designed. We're delighted to showcase Australia's premier motorsport category at first-class venue and in a national marketplace with a healthy appetite for top-notch auto racing and family friendly entertainment."
V8 Supercars has quickly gained popularity in Australia and New Zealand and is in the process of expanding to new international jurisdictions. Formerly known as the Australian Touring Car Championship, the current series was devised in 1993 and branded as "V8 Supercars" in 1997. The cars are based on modified versions of Australia's two most popular passenger cars, the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore. Automakers Nissan and Mercedes have announced that they will also provide vehicles for the series in 2013. The series includes races on purpose-built racetracks, such as Circuit of The Americas, and on street circuits. Race formats include sprint races as short as 100 kilometers, as well as middle-distance endurance races with the race length often depending on the venue.
Tickets for the 2013 V8 Supercars series at Circuit of The Americas go on sale Tuesday, Oct. 16. Three-day general admission tickets are $69 and three-day reserved seats will range in price from $83 to $275. Patrons with Circuit of The Americas personal seat licenses will receive price breaks on their V8 Supercars ticket purchases. Customers may purchase tickets in advance through Ticketmaster. For more information on tickets and pricing, visit www.circuitoftheamericas.com/tickets.
The V8 Supercars series was recruited to Austin and Circuit of The Americas with the assistance of the Austin Sports Commission.
About Circuit of The Americas
Circuit of The Americas will be a world-class destination for performance, education and business. It is the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the United States designed for any and all classes of racing, from motor power to human power, and is home to the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™ set for Nov. 16-18. Racing series joining the Circuit's 2013 line-up include MotoGP™, V8 Supercars™ and GRAND-AM Road Racing™.
The Circuit of The Americas' master plan features a variety of permanent structures designed for business, education, entertainment and race use. Its signature element will be a 3.4-mile circuit track. Other support buildings will include an expansive outdoor live music space, a conference center, a banquet hall as well as a state-of-the-art medical facility. Future proposed amenities include a driving/riding experience, a motorsports driving club, kart track, grand plaza event center and tower, and a trackside recreational vehicle park. For more information and downloadable video, audio and photos, visit: www.CircuitofTheAmericas.com.
About V8 Supercars
The V8 Supercars Championship is one of the worlds' largest and best known touring car categories, recognized internationally as a leader in motorsport and entertainment. The Championship consists of 15 events across Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East in 2012, as well as racing at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix™.
Annual attendance for the series can reach 1.75 million people and every race is telecast live on the Seven Network across Australia and the TV3 Network in New Zealand. SPEED TV in America televises every Championship event, selected events live. More than 17.5 million people watched V8 Supercars on television in Australia, while the official website had more than 30 million page views. V8 Supercars has more than 200,000 Facebook fans and in 2012 had 80-million Facebook newsfeed impressions. Outside of Australia and New Zealand, the United States is the largest consumer of V8 Supercars on television and digital media. In addition, more than 130 countries telecast V8 Supercars live, as live or on delay, dependent on time zone and programming. The massive SPEED TV network in North and South America and ESPN Star throughout Asia are among the major broadcasters of the sport. Ratings throughout Australia are booming and event attendance is up by 5 percent.
In 2011 the series was granted "international status" by the world governing body of motorsport the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, which enables V8 Supercars to race at up to six international destinations each year, elevating the sport to among the top tier of all categories worldwide. Many events attract in excess of 200,000 people. These flagship and world-renowned races include the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Armor All Gold Coast 600 and the season-ending Sydney Telstra 500 on the streets of Olympic Park in Sydney.
Backing of the sport across V8 Supercars and its teams is at an all-time high with an estimated annual sponsorship portfolio well in excess of $150 million. V8 Supercars' major backer is Australia's largest ISP provider BigPond. Etihad Airways has recently become the official international airline of V8 Supercars, and Virgin its domestic partner.
All V8 Supercars run on 85 per cent CSR Ethanol, a renewable fuel made from the bi-product of the sugar refining process. V8 Supercars and its related entities are committed to the responsible serving and consumption of alcohol. More information can be found at v8supercars.com.au or v8supercarevents.com.au.
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