Supercars’ Headline Sponsor Virgin Australia go into Voluntary Administration

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Supercars’ headline sponsor Virgin Australia were placed in to ‘voluntary administration’ on Monday.

In total, the company owes more than $6.8bn (AUD) to more than 12,000 creditors, in which the touring car series lies.

Virgin Australia have been major supporters of Supercars for more than four years, reaching an agreement in April 2016 to rename the category the ‘Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’ (VASC) in July later that year.

Vaughan Strawbridge, who acts as an administrator with Deloitte, has previously stated that the accounting firm hopes to sell Virgin Australia quickly and in one piece. If this does indeed go ahead, it is unsure whether the company will remain as headline sponsor for Supercars.

VASC has suffered financial blows in the recent past, most notably being yet another successive year with less cars on the grid – it is now down to 24 in 2020, as teams struggle to source sponsors to fund the expensive sport.

Virgin Australia’s administration plummets the series deeper into uncertainty and speculation, as this news follows the demise of Supercars’ faithful manufacturer Holden. A replacement for the Commodore past 2021 has yet to be announced, and the initially predicted successor, the Chevrolet Camaro, now seems an unlikely fit.

Before the third round of the Supercars iRacing Eseries begun, a statement was read out regarding the Virgin Australia troubles:

“As a very important partner of ours, we just wanted to extend our thoughts and feelings, and we understand that a lot of our friends are going through a lot of pain at the moment. Our thoughts are with everyone at Virgin Australia, and we hope that there is a solution on the horizon very soon, and we look forward to flying with you again very soon.”