June restart for Supercars
SUPERCARS will relaunch its championship season on June 27 in Sydney after an almost four-month hiatus amid tight return-to-racing measures.
After the championship was put on hold at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Supercars has confirmed its plans to return to racing at Sydney Motorsport Park next month in a television-only event.
The return date comes as the series laid out strict protocols for teams, drivers and staff at the track to comply with government restrictions on social distancing.
Teams will charter flights from Melbourne and Brisbane for the return round, stay in the hotel outside the track and there will be heavy restrictions on the number of pit crew and staff allowed at the track.
The opening round on June 27-28 in Sydney will be a twoday only event, scrapping Friday practice, but it will not be under lights as planned in the original calendar. The race format is yet to be finalised.
“It’s fantastic for us to have a date to get back to racing … there has been a lot of work go into this,” Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer said.
“We think Sydney is a key part of our fan base, it’s a huge market domestically, but it also makes really good logistical sense for our teams from Albury, Melbourne and from Queensland as well.”
Pit crew numbers will be restricted to 11 people per twocar team, plus the drivers, and there will be a limited broadcast crew on site. It is also likely to run without support categories.
“Similar to every other sport in Australia, we have gone through an extensive process to draft protocols around how we can operate events under the current restrictions and then as [government restrictions] ease we will amend those protocols,” Seamer said.
“We are working on the basis of not only meeting social distancing restrictions, but also headcount per square metre.”