MOTORSPORT: Supercars halts racing until June

Supercars has bowed to the inevitable and postponed any further championship action until June.

Australia’s leading motorsport category managed to get its first round in Adelaide in February completed before state and federal governments started introducing tough coronavirus containment measures, but it has now abandoned the possibility of running championship races with spectators locked out.

The affected events are the April 3-5 Tasmania Super400 at Symmons Plains near Launceston, the ANZAC round at Hampton Downs in New Zealand on April 24-26 and the Perth SuperNight at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia on May 15-17.

Supercars is stressing all these events have been postponed rather than cancelled. It previously stated it will endeavour to slot a replacement into the calendar for the championship races cancelled when the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park was called off last week.

Supercars has a 14-event calendar scheduled in 2020 and CEO Sean Seamer has made it clear that’s still the intention. That means there will be plenty of juggling if racing can re-commence from June.

There are some sizable gaps later in the year, including a six week mid-season hole in July-August originally designed to avoid a clash with the Tokyo Olympics

The one immutable is the date for the category’s most important race, the Bathurst 1000. It remains October 8-11.

“We have been working diligently to assess all available options to ensure continuity of the series,” Seamer said in a statement. “Obviously, the situation is evolving, but we acknowledge the need to act decisively with the information we have at hand.

“Our sport is a visceral experience and rather than run without crowds, we have decided, along with our key broadcast and government partners, to delay any further racing until June.

“Supercars’ priority is to deliver the 14 round 2020 championship for our fans and partners, irrespective of the dates. Bathurst will obviously proceed on its traditional date. We have a plan for how we can make that happen and will begin discussions with all of our stakeholders over the coming days to lock this in.

“We anticipate that we will be able to formalise and communicate this plan within the next few weeks.”

Supercars follows many international racing series in suspending action. Including Formula One, Formula E, NASCAR, IndyCar.

In an attempt to fill the racing hole Supercars will offer an eSports racing series hosted via the Twitch live streaming platform, Fox Sports and Kayo. Seamer says the championship’s top stars will participate in the series which will run until late June.

A new ‘behind the scenes’ docuseries featuring Supercars team Erebus Motorsport will also be available from March 30 on Foxtel, Fox Sports and Kayo.