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Two of the most influential men in the V8 Supercars’ pit lane have outlined the urgent need for Western Australia to return as a Championship Series round.
Triple Eight Race Engineering team principal Roland Dane and V8 Supercars executive chairman Tony Cochrane have both told Speedcafe.com.au that a round in Perth is a must – but only under the right circumstamces.
In early February, negotiations between V8 Supercars Australia and the West Australian Sporting Car Club broke down, which has seen Barbagallo Raceway’s round drop off this year’s calendar – the first time that WA has missed an Australian Touring Car round in may years.
“We need to be going to Western Australia under the right circumstance on the right circuit,” Dane said.
“We’ve just raced in the UAE and Bahrain – two of the richest countries in the world, but if WA was separated from the rest of Australia, then it would be a pretty rich country in its own right.
“It’s a crying shame that that Perth doesn’t have a facility worthy of its race fans and motorsport heritage at the moment.
“I hope that with everyone working together that we can go back there. For me, it’s the most important missing link in our category at the moment.”
Cochrane also underlined how important Perth is for V8 Supercars, but told Speedcafe.com.au that there was no feasible way to race at Barbagallo this year.
“Perth is a really important venue for us,” Cochrane said.
“As a championship, we want to be there, but the board voted eight-zero not to go back this year because we are not getting anywhere after four years of negotiation. There’s been a lot of lip-service.
“The West Australian manager of that venue said that he didn’t want V8 Supercars back at his track in a conversation back in October, so they can issue a press release with a bunch of lies and think that’s a good thing.
“The truth is, as a sport, we want to go to Perth. We thought we’d worked out a fair dinkum way for the next five years forward with the government and the Western Australian Sporting Car Club, but it’s been derailed, and it hasn’t been derailed by us.
“Our desire to go to Perth is as strong as ever, but the board, not just Tony Cochrane, voted eight-zero not to return.”
