Pukekohe to be preserved in iRacing

Pukekoke Park Raceway will be immortalised in iRacing following an agreement with circuit owners.

The famed Auckland venue will cease motorsport operations in April 2023.

This weekend’s ITM Auckland SuperSprint will be the final Supercars event at the circuit.

The Pukekohe venue first opened in 1963, and has hosted Supercars since 2001.

The circuit has also hosted the New Zealand Grand Prix 29 times.

The circuit will be laser scanned and digitally replicated by iRacing, which is also the platform for the Supercars Eseries.

Shortly after news Pukekohe would cease motorsport operations, a petition was circulated to have iRacing scan the track.

The petition, launched by passionate sim racer James Anderson, gained nearly 7000 signatures.

It also garnered the support of local heroes Greg Murphy and Scott McLaughlin.

It’s not the first time that a real-life circuit will be scanned by iRacing prior to its closure.

Sydney’s now defunct Oran Park Raceway was scanned before being converted to housing in 2010.

There is no release date set for Pukekohe, with the laser scanned data and images yet to be captured.

Oran Park is now used in iRacing

"Within a few hours of the announcement about Pukekohe Park’s repurposing, we reached out to iRacing to scan the circuit and they agreed almost immediately,” MotorSport New Zealand CEO, Elton Goonan said.

"While we were working in the background, the petition and campaign of James Anderson, a passionate fan and sim racer, certainly helped get this across the line."

iRacing executive vice president Steve Myers added: "iRacing is proud to help preserve such an important piece of New Zealand motorsport history as Pukekohe Park.

"From Supercars to the New Zealand Grand Prix, Pukekohe hosted many of the world’s top racers and most competitive racing series over nearly 60 years.

"By bringing the track to iRacing, future generations will have the opportunity to lap the famous circuit exactly as it was before its closure, giving them a sense of what made this track so beloved to so many."

"We were happy to collaborate on a solution whereby Pukekohe Park lives on for future generations albeit virtually," added Paul Wilcox, CEO of Auckland Thoroughbred Racing.

Supercars will complete three sprint races across the weekend.