GOLD COAST—V8 Supercars executive chairman Tony Cochrane believes this year's Gold Coast event will be the ultimate proving ground for the sport.
Having stepped in at late notice to fill the gap following the withdrawal of the A1 GP motorsport series last week, the V8 Supercars will host an unprecedented four championship races this weekend at the Surfers Paradise street circuit.
And after years of trying to convince the Queensland government and race organisers that the V8s could host a stand-alone Gold Coast event, Cochrane says this is the moment for the championship to prove itself.
He says the opportunity presented to the organisation this year resembles the V8s taking over from the void left by Formula One when it switched from Adelaide to Melbourne.
"As a city they were devastated, and they believed that was the end," Cochrane said of Adelaide's dumping by the world's premier motorsport category.
"How could you possibly have a fantastic street race now that you've lost Formula One? Well, we started an event there called the Clipsal 500.
"So we're not bad at running events.
"I've always believed that we could take centre-stage at this event (Gold Coast) and do a fantastic job of it. Now the acid test is on us."
Cochrane also hit out at reports the loss of the A1GP series to the Gold Coast event was going to see a rush of people demanding refunds on their tickets.
"I read some great garbage in a Brisbane newspaper on the weekend that they'll be refunding thousands of tickets this week," he said.
"Well, as of 9.30 this morning folks, they've refunded 93. So I think in the acid test, so far we're performing OK.
"I do accept Sunday night will be the call of the card on that one but I can tell you we're an absolutely huge Australian sport, we love a fair dinkum challenge and we're looking forward to rising to that challenge."
