Supercars klinging to Kuala Lumpur despite legal hurdles

Supercars’ re-branding as the ‘Virgin Australia Supercars Championship’ (minus the V8) yesterday was a healthy distraction from the recent confusion over whether the Supercar brigade will even feature as a support race in Kuala Lumpur on the 14th of August.

City Motorsports jumped on board as promoters for the KL City Grand Prix after former administrators, GT Global ran into difficulties. However, legal documents surfacing this week have divulged that City Motorsports does not currently have a binding agreement with KL City Hall to run the event – with V8 Supercars also having signed its own agreement with City Motorsports earlier this year.
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V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton told Speedcafe.com that the championship is working with the COO of GT Global, Faizal Maulana Hasan Kutti to ensure the event goes ahead.

“The legal activity is beyond our control and we just have to let that run its course,” said Warburton.

“Everyone has read reports that are from one side of the ledger, from the aggrieved party, and we’ve got to look at our due diligence and rely on the promoter. “What I’ve clearly said is that there will come a time when it’s not possible to build the track.

“We’ve got iEDM, which builds all of our tracks, over there and we’ve got Phil Shaw from our events department working with City Motorsports. “There will become a time when the event is not possible, but we are not at that point yet.

If either GT Global or City Motorsports aren’t willing to budge in the dispute, however, the point Warburton refers to might become inevitable given there is a lot more up for grabs than just staging a local street race.

In 2015, GT Global secured roughly over $20 million AUD in government grants to stage the race; half of which came from City Hall while the other half (pledged from the federal government) is still in arrears according to a suit by GT Global’s partners ADM Ventures and Renew Capital.

Given the concession agreement to hold the race extended for some ten years, that’s an estimated $200 million AUD in revenue lost for ADM Ventures and Renew Capital, who have chosen to sue GT Global – with DBKL Federal Territories Minister, Tatuk Seri Tengku Adrian Mansor named as a defendant after City Hall terminated the original concession agreement in affidavit just two weeks ago.

After last year’s’ KL City Grand Prix, Renew Capital appointed additional directors to the board of GT Global, effectively nullifying ADM Ventures’ controlling interest. To protect their own interests, ADM Ventures subsequently filed a winding-up petition to freeze the assets of GT Global and thus instigate DBKL’s move to terminate the agreement.

Where things get really murky is that Faizal Maulana Hasan Kutti is also responsible for forming City Motorsports to stage the race under a different name and applying for a similar concession from DBKL.

It’s no surprise then that ADM Ventures are crying ‘conspiracy’, with GT Global firing back with several countersuits.

With more twists than the circuit itself and an estimated $250 million AUD boost in local economy for a ten-year staging of the event, it’s unlikely a speedy resolution will be forthcoming, but with the Sydney Motorsport Park Sprint event less than two weeks after the proposed KL race, Supercars might just want to save themselves the logistical (not to mention political and financial) headache in trekking to Malaysia.

Intriguingly the Formula Moscow ePrix is likely to be cancelled this week for similar reasons to the KL dispute, regarding rivalry between various Russian agencies concerning the promotion and administration of the event.

Formula E is understood to have provided everything required to host Moscow ePrix but local politics have apparently intervened beyond their control. The timing of which couldn’t be any more significant for Supercars’ management.