Auckland Council has this afternoon voted to bring the V8 Supercars back to Pukekohe at a cost of $10.6 million to ratepayers.

The vote at today’s Strategy and Finance Committee meeting was nine votes to five.

The council’s events arm recommended Auckland pick up the pieces from a fiasco that cost Hamilton ratepayers $40m.

The proposal was debated behind closed doors at the town hall today.

It has been reported that detailed risk review of the proposal had not been provided to councillors to make a decision, only a summary of the risks, which Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development said were not substantial enough to decline the proposal.

Councillors this morning voted down a motion by councillor Cathy Casey to publicly take a confidential item on due diligence of V8 Supercars Australia and Counties Racing Club.

The Government has also confirmed it will invest up to $2.2 million on infrastructure upgrades for the V8 Supercars event, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce announced today.

Mr Joyce said the Government’s funding was conditional on contributions from V8 Supercars and Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development.

He said it would help fund the upgrade of the raceway and deliver a cumulative return for New Zealand over the minimum five-year period the V8 Supercars are guaranteed to be held in Auckland.

“An independent study shows that the V8 Supercar events will contribute around $7m to Auckland … in the first year and generate just over 50,000 visitor nights per annum.”

The Auckland contribution is coming from the city’s major events development fund, which has a budget of $10m per year.

The upgrades are due to be completed in time for the Auckland round of the 2013 championship.