VICTORIAN motorsport faces losing one of its longstanding events with Winton’s place on the Supercars calendar for 2017 and beyond in doubt.

The deadline is looming for Supercars to finalise its championship fixture for next year and the Benalla Auto Club, which owns the Winton Motor Raceway, is lobbying the Victorian Government in a bid to save the event.

The club, which self-promotes the race, can’t afford the increased appearance fee Supercars was asking for and needs government assistance to keep the race meeting in country Victoria alive.

The Victorian government, which recently invested $1 million towards a resurfacing of the Winton track, has confirmed it is considering a proposal.

Benalla Auto Club chief executive Chris Lewis-Williams said he was still in negotiations with Supercars, but the deal on the table was not financially viable.

“We were offered a new contract that financially we couldn’t agree to,’’ Lewis-Williams said.

“At Supercars head office, they are a commercial animal and they believe their product is worth a certain amount of money and they’ve got experience with other states and regions that put money in to secure events.

Tim Slade won this year’s SuperSprint at Winton. Source: Supplied

“We’re not dead in the water, but we are working very hard with the Tourism Minister and Visit Victoria ... we have certainly put up a strong argument that we are worthy.

“Our conversations with the government have been really positive, it’s just timing wise, Supercars want to finalise the calendar and conversations with the government sometimes take a little longer than that.

“We’ve been on the calendar for a long time, we’re the test track for a lot of the teams, we believe that teams would like to keep Winton on the calendar.’’

A Supercars spokesman would not speculate on the future of the Winton event, saying negotiations were ongoing.

He added Supercars hoped to announce its calendar for 2017 before Sandown next month.

“Our three-year agreement with Winton is up for renewal. We are currently in discussions as we look to finalise our calendar for 2017,’’ the spokesman said.

Winton has hosted a Supercars event every year bar two since 1985 and provides a significant boost to the region’s economy, with more than 70,000 people attending this year.

There is competition for spots on the calendar, with Supercars eager to add a second event in Asia alongside this year’s cancelled Malaysian race. A new racetrack is also being built in South Australia.

The Victorian government last year rejected a push by Supercars for a proposed street race in Geelong.

Supercars chief executive James Warburton warned earlier this year Victorian motorsport faced a future with Phillip Island as its only round on the series calendar with doubt over the long-term future of Sandown and Winton.

The series is negotiating to extend its deal at Sandown Raceway, which sits on valuable land owned by the Melbourne Racing Club.