» V8s: Championship seeks new beer sponsor

V8 Supercars officials will be on the lookout to land a new beer sponsor for the 2012 season, after XXXX Gold confirmed that it would end its four-year involvement with the championship.

The announcement seems to spell the end of the iconic ‘XXXX Gold Retreat’ and ‘XXXX Angels’ dancing girls, who entertained bumper crowds at each championship event.

“Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end,” a statement issued on the XXXX Gold V8 Supercars website reads.

“We regularly review all of our sponsorship arrangements and we have decided not to renew our V8 sponsorship this year.

“The V8 Supercars will continue to be a spectacular competition and we wish them and all of the fans the very best for the future.”

The drinks group – owned by brewery giant Lion Nathan – has not indicated its reasons for pulling the pin on its lucrative sponsorship involvement, and it has also not indicated if its separate sponsorship deals with drivers Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom, Garth Tander and Greg Murphy would be terminated on the back of this.

We recently reported that organisers of the Clipsal 500 season-opener had backed down on their policy to serve only low-alcohol beer at the Adelaide round.