V8 Supercars: McConville Announces Retirement

Following a frightening crash at Phillip Island, which saw the Holden driver catapult across the track backwards and narrowly avoid clashing with oncoming cars, speculation has mounted that McConville may hang up his helmet at season’s end.

But according to the 35-year-old, it wasn’t the incident at the first endurance race of the season that prompted his decision to quit the V8 scene.

McConville said he realised his motivation was beginning to fade after a horrid round at the Gold Coast SuperGP, where a huge crash during the opening lap of race two destroyed his race weekend.

“Phillip Island, if anything, motivated me, it made me committed to have a good go at Bathurst and I suppose standing up there on the podium I thought, if anything, this is a good way to finish off,” he told AAP.

“But once Indy came around I just didn't enjoy it, even the racing on the Saturday where I finished 18th.

“I had no brakes, the heat was unbearable and then I got stuck in the wall and I thought right, my motivation for this is waning a bit.”

Meanwhile, the V8 circus moves back to Phillip Island this weekend for the hastily arranged Island 300, a replacement for Bahrain’s Desert 400 which was pulled from the calendar following a restructure of the 2010 schedule.

With the V8 Supercar series set to open with back-to-back Middle Eastern rounds next year, series organisers, in conjunction with the Bahrain circuit agreed to scrap the 2009 event, forcing AVESCO to search for a replacement circuit.

Although a usual supercar weekend takes place over three days and sees a plethora of support categories share track time, for the Island 300, all activities will be condensed into a two-day format.