Supercars drew a crowd of 21,220 for Saturday night's race at the Sydney Motorsport Park.GETTY IMAGES
Supercars "will look into expanding its portfolio of night time races" following a "successful return to under lights action in Sydney on Saturday," according to Andrew van Leeuwen of MOTORSPORT. The first night race on Australian soil in 20 years "proved a hit for the series," which reported a crowd of 21,220 for the 300km race -- a 50% increase on any single-day crowd from the 2017 Sydney Motorsport Park event. The two-day crowd was close to 33,000, while TV audiences were up 73% for Friday's primetime practice session and up 17% compared to Saturday's race in '17. Based on those numbers -- as well as a "swell of positive feedback from people in the paddock" -- Supercars confirmed "the concept is set to return to Sydney next year, along with plans to investigate implementing it at other rounds." Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said, "The television and events teams have done a really good job with the mobile lighting, so there's nothing to suggest the lighting can't go to other race tracks in Australia." He added, "We are motorsport fundamentally but we are also entertainment and we need to look at all ways we can make our sport more accessible and digestible for more people" (MOTORSPORT, 8/5).
