Green light for Supercars

TASMANIA’S round of the Australian Supercars championship will go ahead at Symmons Plains this year and officials will reveal this week if that is as scheduled on April 3-5 and whether or not to enforce a fan lockout.

Symmons Plains is one of Supercar championship’s oldest circuits, sitting second on

the all-time list of events held at a single venue with 47.

A spokesperson for Australia’s premier motorsport series said that would increase to 48 with round three in Tasmania still getting the green light, whether it be held in three weeks or rescheduled for later in the season.

“We are still in discussions about it but at this moment we are still on,” said Supercars head of communications Felicity Hamblin.

“There is going to be an event in Tasmania as far as we have discussed so far. There are a lot of conversations going on at the moment. “We are continually getting updates on health advice.”

The Federal Government’s ban on gatherings of more than 500 people, and last year’s Symmons Plains event drawing a crowd of 55,000 over the three-day event, allowing spectators into the circuit has thrown a spanner in the works. “A decision on the Symmons Plains round won’t be made immediately as to how that will look,” Hamblin said. “But there will definitely be a Tasmanian event this season. We’ve got a lot of options open to us.

“There is talk of holding the event but not having crowds, as other events have done.

“Given there are so many broadcast options available to us, that is certainly an option they are looking at.”

So far, only the opening round — the Adelaide 500 — has been raced, following the cancellation of the second round at the Melbourne Grand Prix last weekend.

It left teams shocked and confused after the drivers had contested four rounds of qualifying on the Thursday, only to be sent home minutes before their opening race was scheduled to take place on Friday.

THERE WILL DEFINITELY BE A TASMANIAN (SUPERCARS) EVENT THIS SEASON

FELICITY HAMBLIN