BIG CHANGES TO 2019 SUPERCARS CALENDAR

Supercars announce 2019 calendar – Photo: InSyde Media

Next year’s Supercars championship has been cut to 15 events in a major shakeup of the calendar.

By MARK FOGARTY

As well as losing a round, there are related date changes for the Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast event – which is also set for a race format change – and a big move for the Sandown 500 that re-orders the endurance races.

Perth takes over the night racing event as Sydney Motorsport Park drops out for what is planned as a sabbatical before returning in 2020.

The Phillip Island round has been saved by financial assistance from the Victorian Government.

The Surfers Paradise street race leg of the new-look Enduro Cup is scheduled to change from twin 300 km races to a single 500 km event, renamed the Gold Coast 500.

Winton’s round is also due to be compressed to two days.

The Ford Mustang Supercars racer will make its public track debut at the new pre-season test at Phillip Island on February 14.

The Sydney SuperNight event, which this year successfully reintroduced racing under lights to Supercars after a 20-year absence, was the casualty to meet the teams’ demand for a reduced schedule.

Barbagallo Raceway will host two twilight/night races on May 3-4, with the Friday and Saturday evening shows to be broadcast in prime time on the east coast.

Sandown and Pukekohe are swapping places, meaning that for the first time there won’t be a warm-up enduro before the Bathurst 1000.

The Great Race will be held a week later in the second full weekend in October in a possible permanent move triggered by the NRL Grand Final’s switch to the first Sunday of the month.

The NRL season decider is shifting to October 6 in 2019 to gain separation from the AFL Grand Final, which will retain its traditional last Saturday in September slot.

As a result, the Bathurst 1000 is pushed back to October 13 – a not unprecedented time of the month – with a knock-on effect for the Gold Coast 600.

The Surfers Paradise street race festival will be shunted to a week later than normal from October 25-27, meaning it will once again clash with the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The season finale Newcastle 500 will consequently stay on the last full weekend of November rather than moving forward a week as originally planned.

Sandown will now be the final round of the Enduro Cup – Photo: InSyde Media

But the biggest change is the shift of the Sandown 500 from its traditional mid-September slot to November 10, switching it from the first to the last round of the Enduro Cup.

The 500 takes over from the Auckland SuperSprint as the penultimate round of the championship in a swap dictated by new freight arrangements.

Pukekohe step in from September 13-15 to allow for the cars to be shipped to NZ and back by sea due to the demise of trans-Tasman Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo Jet’ air freight services.

Only the last-minute availability of aging 747 air freighters for next month’s Auckland SuperSprint averted a sea-freight scramble.

Delaying the Sandown 500 to November has the potential benefits of improved weather and moving it away from the AFL finals series.

It will also skirt the crescendo of horse racing’s Spring Carnival, following days after the Melbourne Cup and with the 500 run the day after the last big event at Flemington.

According to Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer, the benefits of making the Sandown 500 the last enduro outweigh the absence of a Bathurst lead-up long distance race.

“We believe it will be a significantly better weather window,” Seamer told AUTO ACTION. “It’s also outside the AFL and NRL finals and it is at the end of the horse racing week in Melbourne. So we believe that to be a much better window.”

He also asserted that the teams have no concerns about the lack of a long distance race before Bathurst, which becomes the opening round of the Enduro Cup.

“The teams have built their testing plans around Bathurst and making sure that the co-drivers have enough time in the car before they get there,” he said. “It’s good that we’re starting the enduros with our biggest event. It also gives us a really good story to launch that last run-in from Bathurst, Gold Coast, Sandown and Newcastle, and the teams haven’t raised any concerns.”

Sydney Motorsport Park dropped from the schedule for 2019 – Photo: InSyde Media

Seamer dodged the issue of the teams forcing a reduction of the number of events to cut costs, asserting the calendar changes were more to do with logistics and fan appeal.

“First of all, we look at everything through the lens of the fan, whether they’re at the track or at home, so a lot of the work went into getting events into the right weather windows,” he said. “So that’s why we have Tasmania and Phillip Island back-to-back, and then working through flow in and out of places like Perth and Darwin, and making sure that we had the turnaround times from an operational point of view to do that.”

When pressed, Seamer admitted cutting a round would save the teams money.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Whilst it’s linked to the number of events, it’s also around the flow and the timing of the events, and getting to and from places like Perth and Darwin.

“So whilst the number is important, flow is more important from an operational point of view.”

Along with new dates, there will be other changes next year.

The season launch will be held at Melbourne’s Federation Square on February 13, followed by split pre-season tests on February 14 at Phillip Island and Queensland Raceway.

The Island has been reinstated as an official Supercars test track, as has Sydney Motorsport Park, joining existing venues Winton and QR.

Expanding the number of tracks teams can use for their test days gives them “maximum flexibility”, according to Seamer.

2019 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP

* Also Dunlop Super2 Series
# Friday and Saturday night races
+ Planned two-day event for Supercars

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