Former Bathurst 1000 champion Nick Percat has hit back at a city councillor over “lies” about the returning Adelaide 500.
Speaking on ABC Radio in Adelaide, Percat hit out at councillor Alex Hyde, who lamented “quite disruptive” road closures around the street circuit.
He claimed Hyde – who unsuccessfully stood for the ousted Liberal Party in the state’s March election – “didn’t know what he was talking about”.
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“You guys are just so short-sighted, it’s unbelievable. Honestly. Just be happy you’re going to have a major event back in South Australia injecting money into the state,” he said.
“Every other state is getting on with it and wants big events coming through, and we have Adelaide still pushing back.
“It’s infuriating, honestly.”
Percat, who grew up in Adelaide and won the 2016 event, would later Tweet: “When you are consistently lied to about the event, it’s infuriating. You all have such a great event coming and it’s amazing for SA to showcased. I just tell the truth.”
On Thursday morning, South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas officially confirmed the Adelaide 500 would return on a five-year contract as the season-ending race meeting until the end of 2026.
The 2022 edition will run from December 1-4. Supercars also committed to holding its annual Gala Ball – usually held the Monday night after the final meeting – in the city.
https://twitter.com/NickPercat/status/1539401132816347136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Hyde said the Adelaide Council were briefed on Wednesday night by the South Australian Motorsport Board, which was re-established in May.
“Probably the standout is total set up and pack down time is going to be five months, which is a serious amount of time and so that’s a concern,” he said.
“Most of that time is going to be in the occupation of particular parks and parklands, and then on top of that, we’re going to see longer road closures on either side of that.”
Percat implied the five month claim was misleading.
“You’re talking about five months of closure … it’s not five months of road closures, they start working there five months out because the event has not been there for a few years.
“They have to resurface some roads, which happens every day because roads deteriorate, racetracks deteriorate.
“You guys are just missing the big picture of putting SA on the map again. Tailem Bend serves its purpose but it does not inject anything like this event does.”
The undercard for the 2022 Adelaide 500 is already taking shape, with the Super2 category also confirming they would wrap up their season at the event.
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