More questions than answers have been raised after the release of 2023 MotorSport New Zealand Premier Race Championship Series dates by MotorSport New Zealand (MSNZ) on Friday afternoon. This comes on the heels of a Newsletter earlier last week from the now former promoter of Motorsport NZ events, Speed Works, announcing they are currently confirming their 2022-23 calendar with fully subscribed events.
The key to running any events is having a full dance-card, and it may appear that Speed Works has theirs while MSNZ, outside of the Toyota TRS and TR86 camps, are still acquiring dance-partners.
Part of the background to this is that MSNZ are in the process of switching promotors. It is reported that Speed Works is out and in comes Brendon White’s team, a promoter of the D1NZ drifting category.
One would naturally think that if a promoter is dropped, then they will disappear and go away. However, the situation we now have is that Speed Works, who have been at this business for quite a few years, are not going away and wish to carry on promoting motorsport events. It now looks like we will have two motorsport promoters for the summer series of circuit racing, which is not necessarily a good thing for the sustainability of our domestic series.
Speed Works are adamant that they have had their dates for the coming season in place since March 2022 (probably expecting to carry on promoting and organising MSNZ circuit racing events). In other words, they have their circuits booked and ready to go.
Headlining their meetings, they state, will be the Rodin Cars Super GT Series along with a V8 class, Muscle cars, GTRNZ, V8 Utes, Mazda Racing, Honda Cup, Formula First, BMW Series, and MINI 7. They are saying that their meetings are already over-subscribed (their dance-card is full). Note that not all series are prepared to travel to the South Island.
An eight-round Premier Race Championship Series has been announced by MSNZ starting in January and ending in May 2023 and will headline the FIA recognised international championship, the Castrol Toyota Racing Series.
As usual, the Castrol Toyota Racing Series will consist of five consecutive weekend events, starting at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell before heading to Teretonga Park in Invercargill, then to the North Island and Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding. Hampton Downs hosts the penultimate round before the fifth and final round at the Taupo Motorsport Park in Taupo.
2023 MotorSport New Zealand Premier Race Championship Series
Round 1 – 13-15 January 2023 at Highlands Motorsport Park, Cromwell.
Round 2 – 20-22 January, Teretonga Park, Invercargill
Round 3 – 27-29 January, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding
Round 4 – 3-5 February, Hampton Downs, North Waikato
Round 5 – 10-12 February, Taupo International Motorsport Park, Taupo
Round 6 – 17-19 March, Taupo International Motorsport Park, Taupo
Round 7 – 14-16 April, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, Feilding
Round 8 – 5-7 May Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland
The first question is with regard to the New Zealand Grand Prix. It has always been expected that it will be competed for at the last TRS round which, in 2023, is scheduled for Taupo 10-12 February. One would have thought that Hampton Downs would host the finale again so why is it the penultimate round of the series? Word around the pits is that it will still be at Hampton Downs so the fifth and final round at Taupo may be an anti-climax.
The second question is why is there not a MSNZ round at the Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch? It was difficult to get an answer from MSNZ to why there isn’t a round in the biggest metropolis in the South Island, which leads to a further question of Toyota GAZOO Racing NZ. Why is the TRS not contesting the Lady Wigram Trophy, which is held and hosted by the Canterbury Car Club?
The answer surely lies in the fact that Speed Works have already organised their only South Island round with the Canterbury Car Club on the weekend of 20-22 January when MSNZ and TRS will now be competing on the same weekend also in the South Island in Invercargill. Hence a clash of events.
From recent past experience there is one thing that must not take place and that is having two major race meetings in the South Island on the same weekend. This happened a couple of years ago when the second round of the TRS took place at Teretonga Park while further up the road in Timaru the South Canterbury Car Club hosted the Super Trucks and Central Muscle Cars. The latter pulled the grounds while the former did not.
So why have we two major South Island events occuring on the weekend of 20-22 January 2023?
Did it take to long for a decision to be made on who would be Motorsport NZ’s promoter for the coming season? Have decisions already been made by circuits and categories as a result of this delay?
Moving forward, the key to any successful series appears to be what the categories want to do, and this is not necessarily about the promoter, often more about dates and venues. Categories generally have the right to choose when and where they will run their individual series. Speed Works claim that they the commitment from enough categories to run a summer program.
National championships that come under MSNZ will work with their confirmed dates. Effectively this will cover the Castrol Toyota Racing Series, Toyota 86 and the NZ Formula Ford Championships, and maybe Pirelli Porsche. While the V8 Utes are a national championship, they are unlikely to head to the South Island and Formula First has always been a North Island series. Meanwhile, Speed Works claim that both these categories will run at their meetings.
There are many questions that don’t yet have answers. This leads us to two final questions. Has the delay by MotorSport NZ in confirming their preferred promoter created uncertainty amongst circuits, clubs and categories, thus allowing Speed Works a head start in confirming their program. Without the necessary support categories to fill their dance-card, has MotorSport NZ been snookered?
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