Ultimately, it might just come down to where Tourism New Zealand wants to spend its budget on major events.
As Tony Quinn told Speedcafe, interest from the government’s tourism agency in Highlands has cooled. Central Otago is already a tourism hub and driving interest to the area, according to the Highlands owner, isn’t a priority.
Canterbury, meanwhile, finally feels like it’s coming out of recovery mode from the Christchurch earthquakes a decade and a half on.
Major events have been scant after the country’s second largest stadium, Lancaster Park, was rendered uninhabitable by the earthquakes.
The city has shown good signs of bouncing back. Christchurch redeveloped Rugby League Park in 2012 to host international football fixtures and Hagley Oval was overhauled in 2014 for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Now, the city of 400,000 is not far away from having a new rectangular stadium built.
According to Quinn, the loss of SailGP to Auckland may free up some budget and pique interest in Supercars.
So what are the strengths and weaknesses of Highlands and Ruapuna?
Let’s start with Highlands. Situated 45 minutes from Queenstown airport, Highlands is the country’s newest circuit having opened in 2013.
Famed for its figure-eight layout, the circuit has hosted Australian GT (now GT World Challenge Australia) and the New Zealand Grand Prix as part of the Formula Regional Oceania Championship.
It has character in spades and would undoubtedly be a favourite among the Supercars drivers, although the circuit doesn’t lend itself to a lot of passing.
What Highlands lacks is a permanent pit building, though that could be remedied at a cost. Tents are commonplace for race meetings.
The location would be among the most picturesque on the calendar, surrounded by snow-capped mountains (depending on when Supercars went).
Accommodation probably wouldn’t be a problem to come by, but may come at a premium given the circuit’s prime location.
Highlands is remote relative to Ruapuna, though that’s no different to Taupo where cars are shipped to Auckland before being driven down in containers.
The Formula Regional Oceania Championship runs over five weeks out of containers week-to-week, so back-to-back Supercars rounds would be possible.
So what about Ruapuna? Located on the fringe of Christchurch just 10 minutes from the international airport, the circuit has similar characteristics to other Australian circuits.
Its first two turns are a lot like Oran Park. Its mix of high-speed kinks and slow-speed wiggly bits would work well for Supercars, according to Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Ryan Wood.
“The track would suit our cars,” said Wood on the Supercars Drivers Only podcast.
“I used to go there quite a bit in 86s and it’s a proper cool track, it’s just the facilities.
“The good thing about Ruapuna is there are long corners and long straight and some tight stuff, so it’d suit our cars.”
Highlands has no pit facilities, but Ruapuna has basic amenities. The circuit could benefit from a facelift, but it’s no worse than some of Australia’s circuits where Supercars has raced.
As a spectator circuit, the entire course is visible from just about anywhere on the perimeter.
Accommodation would be no drama for Christchurch, and as the country’s second largest population it would be well-attended. Ruapuna is renowned for attracting strong crowds. Direct flights into Christchurch are easy to come by too.
According to Grove Racing’s Matt Payne, Ruapuna looks more likely than Highlands.
“From what I’ve heard, Ruapuna is obviously a really likely candidate – but also Highlands is definitely on the list,” said Payne.
“It’s obviously in a great location being in the South Island, albeit being about 40 to 45 minutes out of Queenstown, which makes it a little bit more difficult.
“I think Christchurch is a little bit more accessible for everything. From my opinion, having it at Highlands for the show because everyone would be staying in Queenstown or Cromwell.
“I think the track there and everything they provide, especially the scenery is like nothing there is on the calendar. That would be cool but I’d be stoked to see a double-header anywhere.
“I think that’s probably the only query with Ruapuna and a few other tracks, because the facilities are probably not up to scratch for our Supercars stuff.”
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