A1GP New Zealand has confirmed that following submissions from both Taupo Motorsport Park and the new Hampton Downs Motorsport Park its preference would be for Hampton Downs to host the race in early November.

The circuit has confirmed that it intends to be open for business from June and to have its international circuit completed by September, which would allow an A1GP double header in Australasia to go ahead – with the Gold Coast round in October and the Hampton Downs round in early November.

“We will be making a recommendation to A1GP directly that if the event comes back to New Zealand in 2009 our preference would be for a race at Hampton Downs with an early November date,” commented promoter Gary Dawson.

“Taupo has done a really great job over the past three years but the commercial reality for the event and the series is that it needs to be closer to larger population bases and Hampton Downs sits neatly between both Hamilton and Auckland.”

Jamie Kett, CEO of Hampton Downs, says everyone will be aiming to make the A1GP date a reality. “Hampton Downs Motorsport Park and Convention Events Centre has been a long time coming for the NZ motorsport enthusiast and to be in a position to host a round of the A1GP “World Cup of Motorsport” is very special,” he explained.

“The November 2009 date will be the collective focus of the engineering, construction and Waikato Council teams towards getting the site ready for our very first international event on time!

“There is plenty of on site activity with Clayton Reid, father of Johnny Reid flat out building the track. There are apartment and motor lodge furniture arriving daily by the truckload, tradesmen everywhere installing infrastructures and plenty of daily enquiries to book the circuit, rooms, conventions and other activities.

“For me personally I look forward to meeting the challenges of the next few months and building a team of winners around us as we get ready to showcase the best and biggest NZ A1GP yet!”