Motorsport: NZ Grand Prix organisers chase big crowd

Organisers want in excess of 8,000 to watch the NZ Grand Prix. Photo / Matthew Hansen

A local council ticket initiative should ensure a big crowd is on hand to watch the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild this weekend.

Local ratepayers have been offered a complimentary ticket to the Toyota Racing Series championship finale, including the famous Grand Prix on Sunday and organisers are hoping a crowd of close to 10,000 turns up.

"Being a local and living here and talking to some of the people – we have received some really good feedback about the initiative and it is encouraging to hear that a number of people that have never been down to Manfeild or to the Grand Prix they seem to have taken the opportunity to use their free ticket," Manfeild chief executive Julie Keane told The Herald.

"We are obviously hoping that would then translate into the purchase of another ticket to support the event itself.

"I think across the two councils – Manawatu District and Palmerston North City – there are over 3,500 tickets that have been redeemed."

Speedworks have taken over the promotion of the event as part of the whole series this year but attracting a good crowd was a key part of the decision to bring the event back to the lower North Island track.

Keane and her team worked with the local councils to try and come up with a plan to generate a good crowd and she hopes the fine weather forecast for the weekend, the close championship battle and the ticket giveaway will help them meet their target.

"Across the conversations we've had with Speedworks our aim was to essentially double the crowd number we had last year and if we achieved that we would be really happy with that," Keane explained.

"We put a stake in the ground and said 8,000-8,500. That is what we are hoping to achieve."

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