Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12 November 2008. A1 Team Malaysia warmly welcomes the announcement that the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will be racing at Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia next season. A temporary street circuit in the centre of the city will host the A1GP series, a track which has been used for motor racing events for the past 18 years. This long history of racing in Surfers Paradise has resulted in the venue being recognised as the jewel in the crown of Australian motorsport.
The event, which will be held from 22-25 October 2009 is a particularly important addition to the A1GP calendar for the Malaysian team. Australia is one of the key commercial markets for the two main commercial partners of A1 Team Malaysia namely Proton and Tourism Malaysia. Proton has a significant presence in the country with buoyant sales of the company’s vehicle range, while Australia is one of Malaysia’s most important tourism markets, with over 320,000 visitors arriving from the continent each year.
The Gold Coast venue has previously held an annual race weekend featuring the American Indy Car series and the Australian V8 Supercar championship. Following the American series’ decision not to return to the venue there was fierce competition from rival global race series to replace this championship. The V8 championship will run with the A1GP series and the event is expected to draw close to 300,000 spectators.
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, said of yesterday’s announcement, “I think A1GP is the perfect series for this location. We’ve shown at Durban, a similar venue to this one, that we can put on a great show so I anticipate a very exciting event which will deliver top quality racing and bring an international flavour to the Gold Coast. Australia is a very important market for Malaysia and after the disappointment of not racing there this season, the news today is very welcome.”
The Gold Coast 300 is Queensland’s premier tourism and sporting event, with four days of on track action and four nights of fantastic entertainment. The street course created in the city winds through tower blocks and along the sunshine coast, and will offer the A1GP drivers another great location to show off their driving talents.
In the meantime, A1 Team Malaysia is focusing on the current season’s race calendar, with the upcoming home race in less than two weeks time. Malaysia takes the championship lead to Sepang and will be aiming to retain this position with more strong performances in the two A1GP races on Sunday 23 November.
