Circuit Of The Americas Welcomes V8 Supercars Texan Style.

Rick Kelly, Kelly Racing. (C)

    Australia's premier motorsport series, V8 Supercars have ventured across the Pacific to the newly constructed Hermann Tilke designed race circuit marvel that is the Circuit Of The Americas. The circuit just outside Austin, Texas was purpose built for Formula One, but now V8 Supercars have arrived to stage their first ever championship event on US soil, the Austin 400. This weekend sees the event comprise 4 x 100km races around the fast, undulating circuit.
    The Saturday Races 13 and 14 have run, with both races producing the same podium trio of Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes and Fabian Coulthard. However the racing was frenetic and uncompromising right through the field and therefore exciting for us watching back in Oz. If the Saturday races are a benchmark, cannot wait for the Sunday races.
    One team steadily on the rise is Kelly Racing with their new Nissan Altimas. Race 13 saw Rick Kelly achieve Nissan's Car Or The Future's best result to date when he passed the chequered in P6. He then backed up a strong qualifying for Race 14 by finishing P8 and was unlucky not to get P6 albeit for want of fuel. Whilst admitting that the Nissan is down in straight line speed, the team are slowly coming to grips with it's cornering capabilities.  A team to watch. Let's see if they can continue to please their Nissan and Jack Daniels partners in the Sunday races who are both in attendance at the event.
    At formulafrontrow.com we quite often mention the importance of brand exposure and promotion. We'd like to know if you find the idea of staging regular event/s overseas appealing and whether this would help garner a wider fan and sponsor base and consequently higher TV ratings? Can V8 Supercars promote itself to higher levels in overseas markets such as the USA where NASCAR rules the tin-top racing world? Would love to know the TV ratings on SPEED in the US. Email us at: greenflag@formulafrontrow.com or simply leave a comment. Circuit Of The Americas certainly fulfils its end of the deal.

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