Planning is underway for the Carrera Cup Australia to hold a round of its series in Asia for the first time next season.
The event is set to be the second step in an arrangement with Carrera Cup Asia that will see the Asian championship race alongside the Australian version at Sydney Motorsport Park’s V8 Supercars meeting this August.
A similar combined event is being run with Carrera Cup Asia and Carrera Cup Japan at Fuji Speedway this weekend, taking advantage of the universal Porsche rule package.
The format sees the championships host their own points scoring races before the competitors are pitted against one another in a special showcase race.
Such events are seen by Porsche as a way of sparking added interest among competitors in the respective championships.
Speaking to Speedcafe.com at Fuji, Porsche China motorsport manager Alexandre Gibot confirmed the plan to host the Australian championship.
“The idea is that Asia will go to Australia this year and Australia will go to Asia in 2017,” Gibot told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s part of the deal on the invitation (to Sydney). It’s the plan for Asia to host a round next year.”
Details of the 2017 event, including where it will take place, are yet to be determined.
Carrera Cup Asia currently visits Shanghai (China), Fuji (Japan), Chang (Thailand), Marina Bay (Singapore) and Sepang (Malaysia).
Sepang, which sees Carrera Cup Asia run alongside Formula 1, has been mooted as the most likely option for the Australian visit.
“We have more and more circuits in Asia, so I think there are plenty of opportunities,” added Gibot.
“I think we have to look at the logistics, Most likely it could be Malaysia, but it could be Thailand or China.
“We have plenty of possibilities that we can work wth Carrera Cup Australia on.”
The Carrera Cup’s expansion comes amid ongoing efforts from the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship to establish its own events in the Asian region.
Its planned trip to Malaysia this August was cancelled last week due to legal issues surrounding the KL City street race.
Moves to rescue the event included an ultimately unsuccessful effort to relocate it to nearby Sepang.
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