Welcome one and all to the 12th season of this great Championship. Again we are looking to a season of benchmarks as the V8 Supercar Championship Series continues its strong growth.

Here in 2008 we welcome XXXX Gold and the Lion Nathan family of beers to the Championship for the first time. They have joined BigPond as our major Series partner. Our truly national V8 Supercar Championship Series will provide a tremendous platform for this great brand to extend itself across the nation and New Zealand.

I also welcome our new Champion Garth Tander back, this time for the Holden Racing Team. Garth is a most deserved Champion for the Series, who I am sure, will fight hard to retain his crown.

What a year was 2007 and what a finish! Once again V8 Supercars have proven their staying power and public appeal with the biggest season to date.

Last year was again a season of records with the most outstanding success to date our partnership with the Seven Network that has taken coverage of the sport to new levels. Ratings were up by more than 34 per cent across the board in just their first year back with nearly 22 million viewers in Australia alone.

Seven must be applauded for their commitment and cross-promotion of the coverage while V8 Supercar Television has done a sterling job in supplying the pictures in what has been a solid debut in television production.

The upshot of this success is the fact 2008 will be even better. We have a new broadcast partner in New Zealand with the announcement of TV3 who like the Seven Network are to take the Championship to the next level in that country.

Of course these television partners would not have good pictures without great racing. The highlights were many but special mention must go to the last 15 laps at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000! An entire nation was glues to their screens as the race unfolded. Congratulations once again to Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup for their memorable victory.

During the year we had some significant milestones. We managed to secure the complete funding required for an event in Townsville in 2009, a race that will become one of the signatures of the V8 Supercar Championship Series calendar.

And tickets for the inaugural street race in Hamilton almost sold out in the first few weeks as we look forward to showing New Zealand what a big sporting event is all about next April.

We also visited our troops in Iraq when Craig Lowndes, Rick Kelly, Jason Bright and Greg Murphy snuck across following the Desert 400 in Bahrain for an experience they, and the troops, will never forget. A special thanks to those drivers for taking part.

The Championship is totally reliant on team sponsors and Championship sponsors – we are delighted to welcome so many sponsors to our 2008 Season and we trust you thoroughly enjoy your association with the greatest touring car Championship in the World today.
 

Tony Cochrane
Chairman V8 Supercars Australia