While beaten to the Event of the Year award at Monday night’s V8 Supercar Gala Awards, the Sucrogen Townsville 400 has been recognised as the best event at the 16th annual Queensland Sport Awards.
In its second year of existence, the Townsville race meeting attracted over 152,000 spectators in 2010, and according to event organisers, generated an estimated $26 million for the local economy.
In addition to the twin 200km V8 Supercar Championship Series races, on-track action included rounds of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, the Australian Formula Ford Championship, the V8 Utes Series and the MINI Challenge.
As a part of V8 Supercars’ ‘Rock and Race’ format, legendary Australian rock band INXS also performed – attracting an estimated 15,000 fans.
Previous winners of the Queensland Sport Event of the Year award include the Brisbane International tennis tournament and the Lexmark Indy 300 Champ Car race.
V8 Supercars Australia CEO Martin Whitaker said that the Sucgrogen Townsville 400 is one of the most enjoyable race meetings on the V8 Supercar calendar.
“It is truly one of our very best signature events,” he said.
“V8 Supercars love going to Townsville and it’s fair to say that Townsville loves V8 Supercars.
“We are very proud to have received this recognition for what is an incredible show in Townsville”
Event manager Kim Faithful said the Townsville race represents a great promotional tool for the local region.
“We are absolutely delighted to have won this award and attribute these wins to all of our supporters, who helped make the event an outstanding success,” said Faithful.
“We believe our event plays an essential role in the promotion of the region, with our iconic tourism images being beamed into more than 850 million homes worldwide, during the three days of the event.
“Additionally the event attracted 47% intrastate and interstate tourism visitation, which meant hotels were at capacity and many other associated services also benefited.”
