Supercars will Thai one on in 2026

Australia’s thundering V8-engined Supercars will be the headline support act and form an integral part of Thailand’s ambitious and audacious bid to host a spectacular night-time, under the lights Bangkok Formula One Grand Prix in 2026.

After a series of “behind closed door” meetings at the recent Australian GP in Melbourne, it is almost certain that Supercars has been offered a big dollar offer to take yet another swing at winning over fans in the Asian market.

Of course no-one in Supercars is talking about all this at the moment although RACE (the owner of Supercars) chairman Barclay Nettlefold, has admitted to having talks with the Thai guys.

Just when, well, he doesn’t say.

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Nettlefold describes himself as “a visionary and passionate leader” on his LinkedIn page. Marvellous what a Thai massage will do for you!

Oh, and there’s the fact that earning some tidy cash in the process would make the Aussie teams, many with local sponsors, lean towards getting their passports in order. Big cash from what we’ve heard. A lot more than New Zealand, where they’re paid in lamb chops.

A delegation of Thai GP officials visited Australia for our local GP, not merely to learn some lessons about how to run a race in a parkland setting (more later!) but to talk with Supercars about being the almost big thing.

A big thing about the visit of the Thai delegation to the Melbourne GP was to learn about how they use the venue itself.

And how to do something in a big city. A FUCKING big city. There’s no such thing as traffic congestion in Bangkok. It’s just normality.

But the area the Thai F1 team are targeting is serviced by a great number of trains and buses so maybe …..

But what’s in it for Supercars? Well, for starters, an Asian presence, if we think we need one, but a nice lot of folding nevertheless. And all for playing a came0,

Not the big thing, that would be Formula One, but the next best given that F3 and F2 won’t be on the bill as far as they’re concerned. And that’s because of the costs involved.

But you can’t just stage an F1 weekend with, err, F1 alone. With practice sessions and qualifying so tightly controlled, you have to give the punters something to watch in the GP downtime.

HEEEELLLLLOOOOO Supercars!

As much as Thailand wants to stage a Grand Prix on the Bangkok streets, the problem remains that the country itself has a motor racing pool that wouldn’t challenge a toddler.

For a country that has a vibrant car manufacturing industry it’s amazing that Thailand has such a, err, shithouse, motor racing scene. Sorry Thailand, you do great massages but when it comes to racing well, pooo!

The deal tabled to Supercars is that the category would be the second on the playlist to F1 but with the offset that the category would go to a global audience.

But firstly, why did the Thai guys come to Melbourne? Apart from the masculine allure of Barclay Nettlefold.

The proposed race is likely to be held in the Chatuchak area of Bangkok which would be a street-based circuit much like Melbourne, built and run in part of a significant parkland area that is within the city precinct.

As we now understand Thailand is a current frontrunner in the “new race” stakes, having elbowed past Rwanda (for obvious reasons) and South Africa.

Following the meet and great at the Melbourne GP, Liberty Media and Formula 1 head honcho Stefano Domenicali flew directly to Bangkok on his way to the Chinese Grand Prix to have a look at the proposal and the potential venue location.

Thailand does have a motorsport industry, with rallies, circuit racing and a few Asian GT Sportscar races visiting, but on the whole Thai motorsport is pretty shallow as far as potential support acts for a Grand Prix are concerned, so a squadron of fire breathing V8 Mustangs, Camaro’s and wait for it…

Toyota Supra’s would be the perfect high-profile category to support the open wheel F1 cars.

The fact that Toyota has huge manufacturing operations, (as does Ford) in Thailand will be a big incentive to get the Supercars to southeast Asian location, probably with a bit of local regional support…

It would be a good for the participants in the Supercars category as well, as Thailand is seen as a great holiday destination and is a user-friendly country to deal with, and the bonus is that the people and food are great as well.

Also, depending on the timing of a potential Thailand Grand Prix it would be a perfect trip for Supercars, with the show to slide by the Singapore Grand Prix on the way home and put on a show there.

A Supercars Singapore support act is still on the table and conversations continue to be had with event organisers and the F1 people.

So, it would be a win-win for Barclay Nettlefold and his mates from Supercars and the teams, and let’s think positively the fans would be keen as well, as they could have a quick holiday between events.

It all makes sense to me … so let’s see what happens.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

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