The Australian category has formalised long-held plans to make the Hidden Valley round its official Indigenous Event for this season.
Celebrating Indigenous culture is common in Australian sport, with both major football codes, the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League, holding official Indigenous rounds.
As part of the Indigenous push for the Darwin Triple Crown, the 2022 version of the Supercars Operations Manual specifies that a themed livery will be compulsory.
“For the Official Supercars Indigenous Event (Merlin Darwin Triple Crown), it is compulsory for each car to have a designated Indigenous themed livery,” reads the rule book.
“Each team must submit a complete colour graphic illustration representing the proposed design and colour scheme that the team intends to use on the car thirty (30) days prior to the event for cultural approval/appropriateness.”
Teams have run special liveries to celebrate the trip to the Northern Territory in the past, starting with Triple Eight’s ‘red dust’ livery back in 2008.
Garry Rogers Motorsport ran Indigenous-themed liveries in 2017 and 2018 while Dick Johnson Racing ran one-off colours for Hidden Valley last year.
The scope of what will satisfy requirements for the compulsory livery for 2022 isn’t specified in the rules.
However it’s expected that something similar to the roof and rear wing graphics used by Triple Eight in Darwin last year would suffice.
