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Barry Rogers is adamant that Race Tasmania will go ahead next month despite the ongoing Sydney COVID-19 outbreak which could pose logistical challenges for some competitors.
New South Wales reported 18 new cases of the coronavirus today, an increase which includes a new cluster outside the Northern Beaches and growth in cases in Wollongong, located just south of Sydney.
Tasmania, which is due to play host to several Australian Racing Group categories including TCR Australia from January 24, at Symmons Plains, remains closed entirely to visitors from the Northern Beaches, while others from Greater Sydney must observe a fortnight of quarantine.
Should that situation persist, teams likely to be affected include 2019 TCR series winners HMO Customer Racing and fellow Sydney-based outfit Wall Racing.
Barry Rogers, the man behind the Race Tasmania events at Symmons Plains and Baskerville Raceway along with father Garry, has a similar stance to that which he held just before Christmas, when the outbreak caused the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race to be cancelled.
This time, however, he nominated a deadline of around January 6 for decisions to be made about travel arrangements.
“It’s still no different to what we spoke about the other day, to be honest,” he told Speedcafe.com.
“Probably come the sixth or seventh of January, if things are still bad up there, it’s just a matter of getting the teams and working out a deal for quarantine, no different to what we did for Bathurst, I suppose, and go from there.
“As long as Victoria stays clean… That’s probably the thing that will impact it. If, all of a sudden, it’s here in Victoria, that’ll be the big problem.
“There are some competitors out of New South Wales, but most of the volume of competitors are out of Victoria and Queensland.
“There are two TCR teams [in NSW], probably a couple of TCMs, and might even be a couple of TA2s out there, but the fact is, the event will happen, and what we have to do to assist those teams, we’ll make a decision come six or seven, eight days from now.
“If it is that quarantine’s required, we’ll see what assistance can be put together to assist them with that, and we away we go,” he added.
“But the fact is, we’re going racing, and hopefully everyone’s there.”
Symmons Plains is set to play host to TCR, S5000, Touring Car Masters, and National Trans Am, for their season-opening rounds on January 24-26.
TCR will then have an invitational round at Hobart’s Baskerville Raceway on January 29-31, where Trans Am’s Tasmania Ten Thousand will also be held.
