This year, the season finale ditched its Adelaide 500 moniker for the Adelaide Grand Final tag – where Supercars will determine its champion by way of a new format.
If not for the Finals Series, Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney would have entered with a nearly unassailable 286-point lead over Grove Racing’s Matthew Payne.
Such is the new format and the level of jeopardy that Payne isn’t even a contender for the title, and Feeney’s lead is a meagre 20 points over second-placed Chaz Mostert.
Speaking on Monday, Malinauskas hailed the new Finals Series for its impact on the region.
The Premier said “hundreds of thousands of people” are expected to attend the four-day motorsport festival.
“It is a really exciting proposition, one that is delivering for our state economically already. We see this year ticket sales are up substantially on last year, 50 percent up,” said the Premier.
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“I think 98 percent of all grandstand seats have been sold. Also, just as importantly from my perspective, we’ve seen hotel occupancy rates improve quite substantially year on year.
“When you compare 10 days out for Supercars last year versus this year, there is quite a spike in terms of the number of people travelling from interstate to come to our city for this week’s BP Grand Final.
“This is a big deal for our state economically. This is one of the biggest drivers to our city and our state as far as the event calendar is concerned.”
Off-track additions to this year’s event are two high-profile concerts, with Lenny Kravitz on Saturday and ACDC on Sunday.
On track, there is a Formula 1 demonstration by Red Bull, a drifting exhibition, and 40th anniversary Adelaide Grand Prix celebrations.
Adjacent to the track, there is also the AUSX Open Supercross final and the fan favourite NAPA Speedway.
Malinauskas said a live Supercars title fight has been to the event’s benefit, with four drivers split by 50 points from first to fourth.
“The surge in ticket sales we’ve seen undoubtedly has been informed by being the Grand Final,” said Premier Malinauskas underlined.
“No one knows what the outcome is going to be. If it wasn’t the Grand Final, the result of the championship would have been stitched up by now.
“The Grand Final is definitely a contributing factor, but so is of course having ACDC on the Sunday, and even Lenny Kravitz on Saturday night. That’s a big deal.”
For Feeney, he has had to accept the reality of the new Finals Series, even if he would have preferred the previous format.
“I totally get it,” he said.
“The fan excitement has been pretty awesome, and to see the turn out for this weekend is shaping up to be a huge one.
“It would be easy to be complacent and say I would have been stoked if it was the old way, I’d have one hand on [the trophy], but at the same time, it’s a great opportunity to seal it one way or another this weekend.
“Three races, I’ve got three extremely competitive guys behind me all fighting for the championship.
“For a fan’s point of view, I totally understand it. It’s going to be exciting racing this week, and it has been the whole finals series.
“The cream will rise to the top and the best man is still going to win.”
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