MOTORSPORT: New Supercars calendar revealed
Late June kick-off in Sydney, finishes next February at BathurstThe V8 Supercars championship has taken the first key step toward a resumption of racing by releasing a provisional calendar.
A TV-only sprint round at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 27-28 is proposed for the resumption of action after a three-month halt forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The calendar was issued only days after Ford Mustang team owner Phil Munday confirmed he was withdrawing his entry from the championship for financial reasons immediately, leaving two-time Bathurst winner Will Davison on the sidelines.
Run out of Tickford Racing as its fourth entry, it has been confirmed this morning 2010 Supercars champion James Courtney and his sponsor Boot Mobile, owned by California-based Australian Peter Adderton, will take over the seat for the remainder of the year.
The proposed championship schedule will visit Bathurst twice, has scheduled the Townsville street race but cancelled the Gold Coast and Newcastle events and is listed to visit either Hampton Downs or Pukekohe in New Zealand next January.
The calendar has been purposely strung out with three-week gaps – or more – between most events to allow for adjustment depending on the behaviour of the virus and the policies of state governments, which have the final say on events going ahead or not.
Supercars CEO Sean Seamer admitted much remains uncertain even now that a calendar has been released.
“This schedule is subject to change, so don’t get hung up on the number of rounds that are shown,” Seamer said.
“This is a fixed stake in the ground that we can now move forward from and we all just need to be flexible around how much racing we can and can’t do over the coming eight months – and that’s no different to any other sport.”
Supercars urgently needs to get running again so it and its teams can start generating income from their sponsors once more.
As it stands now, the Supercars will perform purely for television at SMP with no spectators allowed to attend, which will hurt income.
There will be no other racing on the program and the teams will fly in and out of Sydney on charter flights and be accommodated in a hotel next to the circuit.
The racing will be conducted during the day rather than at night as originally planned. The same applies to the Perth event on October 31-November 1.
Race formats are yet to be announced for Sydney, but pit stop racing looks unlikely. To get the event approved Supercars is bringing a minimum number of people to the track, so each two-car team is limited to just 11 crew members plus drivers.
Seamer said there will be no team owners at the circuit, no Supercars championship executives and only the bare minimum race officials. Media are not allowed to attend.
Most events following SMP will be held over two days. However, the October 8-11 Bathurst 1000 is still the full four days and a two-driver enduro. Supercars is committed to that meeting retaining its pit stop format.
The championship will wrap up back at Mount Panorama with a sprint event on February 5-7, 2021.
This is the date allocated to the 12-hour sports car race, but the likelihood of a full field of international GT3 racers showing up is pretty unlikely.
The last time the Supercars were in action was on the Thursday of the subsequently-cancelled Australian F1 Grand Prix in March.
Munday, a Melbourne hotelier, closed his team after naming rights sponsor Milwaukee Tool Australia because of the financial challenges of the pandemic.
Munday is just one of many Supercars team owners doing it tough during the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are rumours running rampant in the category of more cars dropping out ahead of Sydney.
“I don’t blame any sponsor for pulling out or what they have done,” Munday said. “The reality is losing sponsorship ahead of schedule has a flow-on effect to what we all do.
“In my situation it has pushed me to a point where I don’t have the funds to run for the rest of the year without the sponsorship money behind me.”
2020 Supercars calendar:
Sydney Motorsport Park – June 27-28
Truck Assist Winton – July 18-19
BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown – August 8-9
Townsville 500 – August 29-30
OTR The Bend – September 19-20
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – October 8-11
PIRTEK Perth – Oct 31-Nov 1
Tyrepower Tasmania – November 21-22
Penrite Oil Sandown – December 12-13
ITM Auckland – January 9-10, 2021
Bathurst 1000 – February 5-7, 2021
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
