Series still on

Press, 22 May 1978, Page 20

Series still on

PA Wellington The New Zealand international motor-racing series‘will go ahead despite the withdrawal of the sponsor, Peter Stuyvesant. The president of the New Zealand , Grand Prix, Mr R. Frost, said yesterday the series would go ahead, with or without a sponsor. But he confirmed that difficulties would arise in attracting top overseas drivers if another sponsor was not found. “That’s our prime cause of concern at present,” he said of the Stuyvesant announcement, which was followed yesterday by the ■•withdrawal of Castrol spoil- 1

sorship for the saloon-racing series. The secretary-general of the Motorsport Association of New Zealand, Mr Alan Smithard, whose organisation runs the saloon series, said it had not yet sought another sponsor. The managing director of Castrol, Mr Bob Maitland, said the series had proved somewhat disappointing over the last season,, with small fields and confusion! over points and handicapping. He said Castrol’s withdrawal did not represent a reduction in; the firm’s -nvolvement in motor-; sport, merely a shift to different; areas.