RACE CROWDS SET TO SOAR

Despite the threat of the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Brisbane, crowd restrictions are set to be lifted or at least relaxed for upcoming major events, including the next few Supercars rounds.

There are concerns that this weekend’s Bathurst 6 Hour and next month’s Tasmania SuperSprint could be severely disrupted – or even cancelled – if borders are closed to ‘hot spot’ areas in the Queensland capital.

But if they happen, there will be no limits on local spectator attendance at either event.

Five local government areas in Brisbane are in lockdown for three days starting this evening. The ban on movement will be reviewed late on Wednesday.

Bathurst 6 Hour organiser ARG is planning to go ahead with the event, possibly without Brisbane-based competitors, although at this stage they are not banned from entering NSW.

Potentially more problematic if the outbreak widens is Supercars’ April 10-11 Tasmania SuperSprint.

For the next three days, Tasmania is requiring arrivals from the affected areas in Brisbane to quarantine for 14 days.

If the restriction is not lifted by early next week, Brisbane-based Triple Eight and drivers and personnel from the other two southeast Queensland teams who live in or have recently visited the affected LGAs will effectively be barred from the Symmons Plains event.

Supercars is liaising with Tasmanian health authorities over the new Brisbane coronavirus crisis.

Race crowds set to soar – Image: InSyde Media

At the moment, DJR and Matt Stone Racing are just outside the exclusion zone, although some staff who live in nearby Brisbane areas are at risk.

For the Bathurst 6 Hour event, the main casualty could be Triple Eight, due to field an entry in the Australian GT championship support races.

If it happens, the Mount Panorama Easter meeting will be the first motorsport event in more than a year to effectively have no limit on spectators.

Attendance at Supercars’ Tasmania SuperSpint and the May 8-9 The Bend SuperSprint is also set to be unrestricted.

Winton Motor Raceway is in negotiations with Victoria health authorities for a daily limit of up to 10,000 for its May 29-30 event.

The latest relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria, which has not had a locally transmitted case for 30 days, gives the track-owning Benalla Auto Club hope that normal daily crowds and on-site camping numbers will be allowed.

Meetings later this week are expected to decide the viability of the Winton SuperSprint – and which organisation will promote the north-eastern Victoria visit by Supercars.

Normally underwritten by BAC, a shared financial risk with Supercars is being discussed.

The relaxation of crowd limits is in line with Supercars chief operating officer Shane Howard’s expectation that spectator limits and controls will ease as coronavirus vaccinations increase.

Howard is optimistic that attendance at Supercars events will be back to normal – meaning freedom of movement and unrestricted crowd mingling – at the season-ending Gold Coast 500 in early December.

The likelihood is that local major sporting events will be back to full capacity well before then.

In Victoria, the most restricted state, attendance at AFL games was raised to 75 per cent for last week’s second round and is headed for 100 per cent – no limit – for the ANZAC round at the end of April.

All other states have already adopted much more liberal sporting crowd allowances.

All going well, this weekend’s Bathurst 6 Hour Easter meeting at Mount Panorama, featuring TCR, Trans Am and TCM as well as the signature production car enduro, will not have attendance limits.

The crowd will naturally be small because the event doesn’t attract big numbers.

The only limit may be on camping, with distance rules limiting capacity.

At this stage, Supercars’ next two events – two-day meetings at Symmons Plains and The Bend – have no spectator attendance limits.

The Bend will be open to crowds for three days from May 7-9 as the Friday will feature track action for all support categories.

Looking further ahead, the Supercars events in Darwin in June and Townsville in July are likely to be completely open to spectators.

Few limits are expected at the Sydney and Perth SuperNights in August and September respectively, leading into a full-house October 7-10 Bathurst 1000.

New Zealand’s Auckland SuperSprint, scheduled for November 6-7, will depend on a trans-Tasman travel ‘bubble’, due to be opened both ways early next month.

Victoria’s 14-day quarantine requirement for international arrivals, if still imposed, will throw the postponed November 18-21 F1 Australian Grand Prix into doubt.

F1 and local officials are looking to get state government approval for a five- or six-day corridor, restricting visiting personnel to an airport-hotel-track-and-back movement.

Supercars is looking to reinstate the AGP as an extra championship round if it goes ahead. Last weekend’s Sandown SuperSprint took over the vacated F1 weekend at Albert Park.

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