Repco claims Supercars sponsorship

Auto parts giant Repco will take over naming rights sponsorship of the Australian Supercars Championship next year from recently resuscitated airline Virgin Australia.

The deal is for five years and is the second major Supercars sponsorship the Australian-born, American-owned company has announced in weeks, having also secured the naming rights to the Bathurst 1000 for five years from 2021.

But while Virgin, now under new ownership following a period in bankruptcy, has congratulated Supercars and Repco on their new deal, the jilted partner at Bathurst, Supercheap Auto, was furious to be outbid by its business rival and remains ambivalent about any form of investment in motorsport.

Nevertheless, the arrival of Repco is undoubtedly seen as good news for Supercars CEO Sean Seamer and Australia’s premier motorsport category, which like all professional sports has been doing it tough during the coronavirus pandemic.

The next step for Seamer is to unveil the all-important new television deal in which Channel Seven will replace Network 10 as the free-to-air partner alongside FoxSports.

While income from the new TV deal is said to be down compared to the current $241 million/six-year arrangement, the amount free-to-air time is set to grow significantly. This is good news for Supercars teams who constantly battle to find sponsors in a tough market for what is predominantly a subscription TV event.

It could also pave the way for a sale of Supercars by private equity investment firm Archer Capital, which bought a majority share in 2011 for $195 million and has not made a return on that investment.

Australian Racing Group (ARG), the promoter of the carsales TCR Australia Series established by Sydney rear estate developer Brian Boyd is said to be in the box seat to take over.

But back to Repco. Owned since 2013 by US giant Genuine Parts Company (GPC), it has embarked on an ambitious plan to become the dominant sponsorship player in Supercars as it seeks to rebuild its profile.

Under GPC Asia-Pacific chief Rob Cameron it set out on this multi-million dollar motorsport investment strategy three years ago. The first visible sign was its sponsorship of leading Ford Supercars team DJR Team Penske in 2018.

Cameron and co are seeking to exploit Repco’s heritage as a major player in motorsport, most famously building the engine that powered Jack Brabham to the Formula 1 world championship in his own car in 1966.

“We want to be that motorsports powerhouse again,” Cameron said in a recent interview. “When you think of Repco I want you to think of passionate, motorsports, car-driving enthusiasts. That is us.

“We are doing this for the right reasons. We really want to be a partner, we want to help and work with Supercars to grow the category and grow the appeal.”

Repco isn’t the only GPC brand associated with Supercars as NAPA auto parts is a support sponsor at Walkinshaw Andretti United.

There is also a suggestion Repco will expand its Supercars investment further to become the naming rights backer of a car in the championship. It is the number two sponsor on the DJRTP Mustangs driven by championship leader Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard behind oil company Shell.

Not everyone is impressed with Repco’s big spend. Supercheap boss Benjamin Ward railed in the media against Repco’s Bathurst 1000 coup, complaining it had lost out to a “big money” bid from a “foreign competitor”.

Currently the naming rights sponsor of the Tickford Racing Ford Mustang driven by Jack Le Brocq, Ward has refused to confirm the deal will be renewed.

“We haven’t made a decision on renewal with Tickford or not,” Ward confirmed. “It’s influenced by losing Bathurst because that’s the race everyone tunes into each year and that will obviously look different next year and in the future years without our name on the bridge.

“We need to work through that what that means for our race team.”