Tony Quinn’s take on uncertain Ipswich Supercars future
Speedcafe.com · Stefan Bartholomaeus · 2026-08-24T20:00:49+00:00 · nguồn gốc
The Ipswich venue only returned to the calendar last year and has drawn healthy crowds, but may lose its fixture to Phillip Island following MotoGP’s exit from the Victorian venue.
There also remains uncertainty as to how many events Supercars will run next season – a number that could land at anywhere between 12 and 15 pending Teams Racing Charter negotiations.
Asked by Speedcafe whether he expects QR to be on the 2027 Supercars calendar, Quinn said: “I hope so.
“I’ve had plenty of people telling me that Philip Island is on there, they’re using MotoGP (event) money, which would surprise me because the Victorian government need to pay off their debt first, I would think.
“But if they go to Phillip Island, the thing that would really disappoint me is that 100 people have told me already that it’s going to Phillip Island, and nobody from Supercars has said anything.
“That would be a disappointment. That would be a reflection of a poor relationship, and we don’t have a poor relationship. That would bother me and disappoint me.
“So I fully expect them to come back. I don’t know why they wouldn’t.”
The main drawback for Supercars, which leases QR from Quinn to run its Ipswich event, appears to be a lack of Queensland government support.
Quinn said that should not stop Supercars from keeping the event.
“The Queensland state government is full of (Brisbane 2032) Olympics and stuff like that, and they already pay for the Townsville race and the Gold Coast race,” Quinn added.
“But when you think of it, Ipswich is the heart of Supercars. So if you’re in a business, you look after the heartland. That’s what you have to do.
“Whether it costs you money, whatever it is, you’ve got to look after the heartland. If they don’t look after that, they lose it.”
Quinn is proud of the investment he’s made at QR since purchasing the circuit in 2021 and feels it deserves a place on the Supercars calendar.
“It’s not government money that’s built this place. It’s personal money, tax-paid money, whatever you want to describe it,” he said.
“It’s my investment to support the sport, and nobody would argue that we haven’t improved the place tenfold.
“For all the people that call it ‘the paperclip’ and boring and everything else, I think we’re done listening to that. I think the racing speaks for itself.”