Supercars has been forced into a late pre-season calendar reshuffle by the wave of COVID-19 currently lashing Australia’s east coast.
The Newcastle 500, which was set to open the new campaign on March 4-6, has been pushed back to a yet-to-be-defined point later in the year.
The Sydney SuperNight, which was originally listed as the season finale, has been bumped up to that March slot and will now kick off the season.
What is yet to be formalised is what exact format the Sydney SuperNight will use in its new role as the season opener.
Unlike other formats there have been various iterations of the ‘SuperNight’ used recently, including a mix of three 125-kilometre heats and two 250-kilometre heats during the quadruple header at SMP late last year.
Motorsport.com understands a two-race format is the preferred option for Supercars for the season opener, in line with the Adelaide 500 and Mount Panorama 500 in recent years.
The Newcastle 500 is also held over two 250-kilometre heats.
However it appears that 600 kilometres of racing could be on the table for the Sydney SuperNight, held over two 300-kilometre heats.
Supercars confirmed to Motorsport.com that no firm decision on the format has been made.
Other details yet to be formalised include tyre allocation, critical at SMP due to its famously high degradation.
All three compounds – supersoft, soft and hard – were used across the Sydney swing last year, while allocation ranged from five sets to nine sets depending on the format.
Sydney Motorsport Park has played a significant role in keeping Supercars going through the pandemic.
The Eastern Creek circuit hosted back-to-back rounds to restart the 2020 season after it ground to a halt during the cancelled Australian Grand Prix weekend.
It then staged those four consecutive rounds in October/November 2021 to ensure the category ticked off the 12 events required by its broadcast agreement.
With this new opener role it will effectively host five from six rounds in a row, only split by last December’s Bathurst 1000.
