The future of Supercars racing in New Zealand is uncertain with a new deal for the Auckland SuperSprint yet to be secured.
The current arrangement between the Australian motorsport championship and Auckland Council's events arm ATEED expires at the conclusion of this weekend's event at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Negotiations on a three-year deal to keep the event at the 2.91km circuit south of Auckland are ongoing but nothing has been finalised.
The 2018 Supercars calendar has the New Zealand stop scheduled for November and chief executive James Warburton is confident an agreement can be finalised soon.
"Our focus is on renewing the agreement and it is certainly looking very positive following discussions this weekend," Warburton said.
"There is an MOU (memorandum of understanding) in place and we have a strong relationship with ATEED. We are working through it and hope to have a new deal in the coming weeks."
A sticking point in the contract is funding upgrades to the ageing Pukekohe facility.
A resurfacing of the back straight has been undertaken, although that area created treacherous driving conditions in the rain on Saturday, and Ford driver Mark Winterbottom believes spectators also need to be catered for.
"When you come and it's raining you want to get some shelter, so maybe we can find a little bit of that in the future for the spectators to tidy them up a bit," Winterbottom said.
"The track's OK but maybe a bit of money could be spent on other areas as well."
Pukekohe Park Raceway boss Peter Hunt says there's more money available for future improvements and doesn't believe that issue should prevent a deal being signed.
"We have committed $NZ600,000 ($A540,078)," Hunt told the New Zealand Herald.
"We have spent a good lot of that already and there is more to finish off."
