NSW Production Touring Cars Media Release
NEW SPONSORS AND NEW CALENDAR MEANS MORE EXCITING RACING FOR NSW PRODUCTION TOURING CARS
Having provided some of the best racing seen throughout the NSW Motor Racing Championships in 2011, the NSW Production Touring Car Championship is set for its most exciting racing year to date, as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this season with a new naming rights sponsor and expanded racing calendar.
Canberra-based winery, Shaw Vineyard Estate, comes on board as the new naming rights sponsor of NSW Production Touring Cars, replacing Pollicina Motorsports after a successful three year partnership. Graeme Shaw, Managing Director of Shaw Vineyard Estate and a fellow competitor of NSW Production Touring Cars is excited to throw its supports behind NSW’s popular production car series. “Shaw Vineyard Estate is really excited about coming on board to sponsor the NSW Production Touring Car Championship,” he said. “We see this as an opportunity to further expose the Shaw Brand in addition to supporting a great category made up of a great bunch of entrants.” He also adds that anyone who tries our range of wines won’t be disappointed. “When people try our wines for the first time, they can expect consistent high quality but affordable wines across all varieties,” he added. “We are the most highly awarded winery in the Canberra Wine Region that encompasses Murrumbateman, where we are located.”
Shaw joined the category 12 months ago having come from a tarmac rallying background and now relishes the challenge of circuit racing. “I have been involved in Tarmac and Gravel Rallying for some time and after the Bathurst Sprint in 2010, decided that circuit racing was presenting new challenges for me,” said Shaw. “After having a run with NSWPTC, I found these challenges to be more enjoyable than I had first thought.”
“In circuit racing, I find that that there are a lot of things going on at once and the driver needs to be more tuned in to these things, where in rallying, the co-driver is a very important part of process providing information to the driver, so in many ways, 
circuit racing is more individual.”
Shaw Vineyard Estate is one of the new sponsors who have joined the class in 2012. Joining the Production Touring Car family include Bilstein Suspension and McDonalds Australia. They join existing sponsors MoComm and Savvy IT. Former naming rights sponsor Pollicina Motorsports has also agreed to stay on as an associate sponsor of the series, thus continuing its long running association. Gerry Murphy, president of the Street Sedan Racing Association of Australia, the category managers of NSW Production Touring Cars, expressed his excitement of having a great array of sponsors on board for 2012. “We are overwhelmed by the support we have received for the category,” he said. “The companies involved are prestigious, well established businesses who believe in the vision we have for NSWPTC. We work closely with our sponsors to ensure they are getting a satisfactory return on their equity and to hear their views on category and how we can improve the product. Promotion and support for our sponsors is key to their longevity with us and we work very hard to make sure we make the most of every opportunity for them.”
The new sponsorship deals also tie in nicely with the recent unveiling of its calendar for the upcoming season. The category will again contest the NSW Championship over five rounds between March and November, with three of the rounds contested as sprint rounds and two as one hour endurance events. Within the NSW Championship, the highly popular Production Touring Car Club Championship will again be contested across six rounds and will expand outside of NSW for the first time as it ventures to Winton Raceway in Benalla, Victoria for the first time as a major support category for the Supertruck Nationals on September 29, with a top ten shootout and two one hour endurance races conducted.
The Winton round will also be a part of the MoComm Cup, awarded to the highest placed driver in any class across the four one hour endurance races this season.
“We are very excited about the year we have put together for our competitors,” said Murphy. “We have 3 sprint rounds to start the year and we then move into the Endurance part of the season with 4 Enduros run over 3 rounds.” As President of NSWPTC, Murphy also pointed out the viability of being cost effective whilst being good value for money for all competitors. “We have gone the Endurance route to give the competitors great value for money racing where you get the opportunity to apply some strategy and race craft over a protracted period. Also, we encourage the use of co-drivers to share costs and introduce new drivers to our category.”
All in all, 2012 marks an exciting new phase in the category’s 10th anniversary year.
2012 NSW PRODUCTION TOURING CARS CALENDAR
ROUND 1: Eastern Creek - March 31-April 1
ROUND 2: Wakefield Park - April 28-29
ROUND 3: Eastern Creek - June 9-10
ROUND 4: Wakefield Park - August 11-12 (1 Hour Enduro)
ROUND 5: Winton, VIC - September 29 (2x 1 Hour Enduro)
ROUND 6: Wakefield Park - November 3-4 (1 Hour Enduro)
www.nswproductiontouringcars.com.au
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