SUPERCARS RELEASE 2021 DRAFT CALENDAR

The Repco Supercars Championship has released its draft calendar for 2021, which contains both the familiar and the unexpected.

The unexpected on the 2021 season calendar (the first under Repco sponsorship) starts with two rounds at Bathurst, including a ‘500’ in February, as the traditional season opener in Adelaide will not go ahead.

Also unexpected is a season finale on the Gold Coast, instead of Newcastle or Sydney, as the Surfers Paradise street circuit returns to the calendar.

Familiar venues in Victoria, WA and Tasmania held no races this year, but all three states are back on the calendar for 2021, as is New Zealand.

Two night races are on the calendar, one at Waneroo, WA, in September following another at Sydney Motorsport Park, which is the first round after the mid-season break. Working on the assumption that the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will go ahead in 2021, the break is longer than usual at six weeks.

While the Bathurst 1000 and Australian F1 GP rounds will be held over four days, others will run for three days and SuperSprints held over only two days, in line with this year’s COVID-impacted conditions that condensed most race schedules. Six rounds will also host the Super2 category, while the pre-season test will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on 14 February.

Under COVID, it’s too early to tell how solid the draft calendar is, and in a reflection of this, Sandown has been listed as a “flex option” to fill any dates that have to be cancelled due to developments with the pandemic. However, Supercars are determined to stick to the draft calendar as much as possible.

“It is important to us to ensure the 2021 calendar features as much certainty for fans as we can provide given the current COVID-19 restrictions in each state and territory,” said Supercars CEO Sean Seamer.

“We’re thrilled that next year we can deliver two events at Mount Panorama, including the season opener in February.

“We are still working with all government partners on fan limits for each event, but we are confident of strong crowd numbers across Australia and New Zealand, in line with the current loosening of COVID-19 restrictions."

Crowd access and corporate options are still to be finalized for all rounds, but tickets for The Bend and Hidden Valley are already available.

Supercars says that further details on ticketing, race formats and calendar changes for the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship will be released in the coming weeks.