Australia’s most popular form of motorsport, the V8 Supercars, will have a new potential audience of 79 million after agreeing a landmark television deal with Fox Sports. Coverage of every race in the series will be shown with a week’s delay on Fox’s dedicated motorsport cable channel, Speed. The channel has 79 million subscribers across the United States.

Tony Cochrane, the executive chairman of the series’ parent company V8 Supercars Australia, called the partnership “a fantastic and exciting relationship for V8 Supercars.”

He added: “There is no question that Speed in North America is the foremost network with regards to motorsport coverage and is the pinnacle platform in our sport; to be held in such regard by this highly professional organisation is a great testament to the quality of our television coverage and our racing.

“Each year we build our international presence and our TV reach next season will go to in excess of 135 customer co7untries in varied forms of live, delayed and packaged highlight.” The deal will begin immediately and include the final race of the 2009 season. David Hill, chairman of Fox Sports, said of the V8s: “It is fabulous to watch and I’m happy that we’ve been able to develop this new partnership with Speed.” He attended this year’s Bathurst 1000 where the deal was finalised.

Cochrane, meanwhile, has promised further international television rights announcements during the off-season. “This is the first of many,” he said, “that will be rolled out between now and our opening event at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi next year.”