Board chief executive Mark Warren told parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee that the government was eyeing “a couple of prospects” for sponsors, after the government last week locked in the race as the grand finale to the Supercars Championship until 2026.

The first race is scheduled to take place between December 1-4 this year, with the Malinauskas Government allocating $18 million in recurrent expenditure and a further $3 million in investing expenditure to run the event in its first budget handed down earlier this month.

Under questioning by SA Best MLC Frank Pangallo, Warren confirmed the government was hoping private sponsors would come on board to help fund this year’s event.

“Obviously, there are no guarantees when we are prospecting for a sponsor, but absolutely it is the intent for us to have a naming rights sponsor for the event,” he said.

“Anyone that has anything to do with the event has been contacted by our potential prospects both in terms of corporate hospitality, which is fantastic to see, as well as potential sponsors who want to be re-engaged in the event.

“Previous sponsors who have been involved in the event have certainly made those phone calls to see if they can be involved again.”

The Adelaide 500 was previously known as the Clipsal 500 and later Superloop 500 before it was scrapped by the former Marshall Government in 2020 following advice from the SA Tourism Commission.

Returning the race to Victoria Park was a Labor election commitment, with tenders currently open to secure the services and infrastructure needed to run the event.

Warren said the Motorsport Board’s “immediate focus” was to get “everything in place that we need to establish the event itself”.

“The immediate priorities are getting the procurement in place, because there are quite a number of assets that our previous government had sold off and we need to replace,” he said.

“We are going through active procurement to reacquire some of that infrastructure and also to acquire new services and marketing.”

Warren last week briefed Adelaide City Council about the need to resurface sections of the Victoria Park circuit before a licence is issued for this year’s event.

He told parliament this week that the government was about to go to market to find contractors to undertake that work, but the final cost was unknown.

“Certainly, it has been budgeted for and our expectation is that it should fall within that budget,” he said.

Warren also confirmed the government was “well advanced” in its negotiations to announce who would perform at this year’s event.

“We are well advanced in our negotiations for the concert artists that we will have and we will make some announcements no doubt with the Premier in due course,” he said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas signed an agreement alongside Supercars Australia representatives in Adelaide last week to lock in the Adelaide 500 as the final race of the Supercars Championship.

Supercars Australia has also agreed to hold its end-of-season gala awards night in Adelaide after each year’s event.