V8 Supercars organisers in Australia are celebrating the news that the forthcoming Bathurst 1000 and Gold🌊 Coast 600 races have been picked up for extended coverage by the US cable sport channel SPEED.

As a result, SPEED will be sending a big n𓆏ame commentary team to the famed Bathurst 1000, with three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Darrell Waltrip joining his NASCAR on FOX colleague Mike Joy and SPEED announcer Leigh Dif🐬fey to bring coverage of the event to North America.

"I've watched some of [the V8] races on SPEED and it's some of the best racing I have ever seen," said Waltrip, who is also well known for providing the race commentary in the Disney.Pixar Cars films. "It is some of the most aggressive road course racing I have ever watched ... These guys don't mess around. They race the entire race like the last 10 laps of a Cup race and I just watch with𒊎 my jaw hanging open."

Diffey, originally from Brisbane and who covered V8 Supercars in Australia for ten years, dubbed the 620-mile Bathurst 1000 as "Downunder's Daytona 500." The race takes place at Mount Panorama in New South Wales, Australia on Oct𓃲ober 8.

"It's an iconic, gruelling a🐻nd awe-inspiring race that only rewards the best," said Diffey. "I am so thrilled to be going to the mountain again and especially this time 𒐪wearing a SPEED shirt."

SPEED will also be providing the US with live coverage of the Gold Coast 600 from the street circuit at Surfers Paradise on October 22, with a field of big name co-drivers already signed up that includes Sebastien Bourdaisﷺ, Helio Castroneves, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan as well as home-grown Aussie heroes Will Power andꦑ Rya꧟n Briscoe.

As part of the deal, V8 organisers will be provi⛄ding SPEED with a purpose-built set in pit lane for both events, and will convert all race graphics from the kilometres/litres metric system used in Australia to the miles/gallons measurements understood by Americans. SPEED will share the resources of V8 Super♉cars Television, which produces the live pictures for the Seven Network in Australia.

"Our sport is acting locally and growing globally every single ꦦmonth. We are on the ♌march internationally and being recognised as such," said V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane, who said he was particularly excited to see Waltrip, Joy and Diffey fronting the coverage at Bathurst.

"In North America and world motorsport these guys are seriously big names ... the absolute best of the best," said Cochrane. "Their voice🅠s are synonymous with sport and having them here is as much a coup as getting the very best drivers to come out, as we have also done for the Gold Coast 600."

The extended coverage comes after 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:the announcement in July that V8 Supercars are to race at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas from 2013 - the first time any Australian sp🔯ort has held a champions🔥hip or points-scoring event on American soil.

As well as benefiting the series, teams and their sponsors, the extended US TV coverage of the event is also very good news💧 for the local region.

"These pictures alone, money can't buy and will give millions of Americans a bird's eye view of one of the world's greatest tourist destinations, showcasingཧ Queensland as the champion state and the events state," said Queensland's Sport Minister Phil R♑eeves.