Supercars wants 10,000 fans trackside for Townsville

With Queensland now largely unaffected by COVID-19, Supercars is set to submit a plan to relevant officials that would see 10,000 fans through the gate on each day of the August 29-30 event.

Should it be approved by the state government and the City of Townsville, it would be the biggest crowed allowed through the gates of a Supercars event since the pandemic took hold back in March.

“When we come to race at Townsville, we will be having a crowd of up to 10,000 people a day,” said series chief operating officer Shane Howard at a press event today.

“It will be great to get crowds back to sport, which is very important.

“We’re really looking forward to Townsville, and obviously the hospitality of that city and getting there to produce some great racing.”

The series has already seen fans through the gate since resuming its 2020 season, with 1000 tickets per day sold for last weekend's Sydney Motorsport Park event.

A capacity of 4500 per day has already been confirmed for the two Darwin rounds on August 8-9 and August 15-16.

Townsville city officials hinted at a crowd allowance when responding to potential plans for a double-header at the Reid Park circuit earlier this week.

“Each year our tourism and hospitality sectors receive a significant boost thanks to V8s fans converging on the city for a great weekend of entertainment," a city spokesperson told Motorsport.com.

"Like most regions across the country, COVID has created uncertainty in these industries, so we would be thrilled to welcome Supercars for consecutive weekends to give our local tourism and hospitality operators a much-needed lift.”

A final decision on the Townsville double-header is yet to be made.