Supercheap backs TCR Australia Series

Supercheap Auto will be the naming rights partner of the TCR Australia Series for the next five years.

The Australian-owned automotive parts and accessories retailer replaces carsales, which has backed Australia’s hot hatch race series since its inception in 2019, as the primary sponsor of the TCR Australia Series.

The new long-term partnership between TCR and Supercheap, announced today by Australian Racing Group (ARG), extends Supercheap’s 25-year history of supporting local motorsport until at least 2025.

Supercheap Auto, which sponsored the Bathurst 1000 until last year, will also back the V8-powered S5000 open-wheel category competing for the new Australian Drivers’ Championship and Motorsport Australia Gold Star in 2021.

Australia’s version of the global TCR (Touring Car Racing) formula – which features 2.0-litre turbocharged touring cars, multiple market-relevant automotive brands and a mix of established and emerging racing stars – will be known as the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.

The 2021 Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will include six rounds, starting at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains Raceway on January 24-26, when the new S5000, Trans Am and Touring Car Masters seasons will also kick off.

Every race of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will be televised live and free on the Seven Network.

“ARG is proud to welcome Supercheap Auto to the TCR Australia Series as our long-term naming rights partner,” said ARG CEO Matt Braid.

“It is a strong endorsement of the TCR Australia product and our growth plans for the category that Supercheap Auto has identified TCR as a strategic platform to align its iconic brand and engage Australians who love their cars and motorsport.

“For more than two decades, Supercheap Auto has supported motorsport in Australia with unwavering passion and best-in-class activation. It is an honour to know that commitment will now extend to the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, for at least the next five years.”

As the inaugural brand established by Super Retail Group in 1972, Supercheap Auto now has more than 3800 staff across over 300 stores across Australia and New Zealand.

“As an Australian-owned retailer, we are proud to continue investing in Australian motorsport,” said Supercheap Auto managing director Benjamin Ward.

“The TCR series with its diverse range of turbocharged touring cars deliver fantastic racing, and with the broadcast of every race now on free-to-air television, this is accessible to all Aussie motorsport fans.

“Supercheap Auto is well known as the longest naming rights sponsor of the Bathurst 1000, and for us our new partnership with TCR gives us the opportunity to bring high quality motorsports to more Australians more often.

“With our support of the TCR category this offers fantastic market-relevant racing in Australia. For the V8 lovers the S5000 category is first-class open-wheel racing.”