Supercars will fire up its compromised 2020 championship in front of empty stands next month, but that appears to be the least of the sport’s problems as it looks towards next year.
A draft calendar of 13 events has been released, with Sydney Motorsport Park the first after a three-and-a-half-month break – but missing from the draft is two of the sport’s crown jewels.
Both the Gold Coast 600 and the season finale Newcastle 500 street races have been dropped, with Supercars citing logistical uncertainty and the risk of crowd-free events as the reason.
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The young Newcastle event has served as the 2020 championship’s grand final for the last three years, with a five-year deal set to expire after next year’s event.
The Gold Coast race, meanwhile, was slated to hold the first-ever night race at a street circuit before it was benched. Its contract was extended by five years early in 2020.
However, with huge economic impacts expected to ripple through the Australian economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic slowdown, it remains to be seen whether the costly events will ever return to the ailing championship.
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Both are sponsored in the main by the respective state governments, which will come under huge budgetary pressure in the next twelve months to two years.
Complicating the issue will be the issue of television rights for the sport, which are also up for renewal at the end of 2020.
Government-sponsored events are required by law to be broadcast on free-to-air (FTA) television, but Supercar’s current FTA broadcaster, Ten, has publically stated that it wants out of its limited deal at the end of the 2020 season.
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If a pure cable television model is signed off –incumbent broadcaster Foxtel is under its own budgetary pressures, however, with the decimation of mainstream sport and a resultant slump in subscriptions – then government sponsorship will decrease, potentially making the street events uneconomical to pursue.
The cancellation of the Newcastle round brought an added wrinkle – Supercars was obliged to find a replacement 2020 season finale in NSW, as part of its deal with the current Liberal Party. The solution was to add a second round at Mt Panorama.
The Bathurst 1000 is still set to be held on its now-traditional early October date, but it will be joined by a second sprint round in February 2021, on the same weekend as the Bathurst 12-Hour endurance race.
Early reports that the 2021 Bathurst 12-Hour is cancelled were wide of the mark. Supercars bought the rights to the Bathurst 12 Hour two years ago, so it has the ability to use the Bathurst race weekend – a rare commodity – for both categories.
It will, however, present logistical challenges for the teams in the V8 Supercars championship, as the 2021 season could start as quickly as three weeks after 2020’s final race.
The 12-hour race is also under pressure, with international travel likely to incur 14-day isolation for arriving travellers for months to come.
International freight forwarding is also under huge pressure, thanks to the contraction of the worldwide aviation industry, with a knock-on effect on sea freight logistics.
Other events on the provisional 2020 Supercars calendar include traditional events at Winton in Victoria, Wanneroo in Western Australia, Symmons Plains in Tasmania and the Townsville semi-permanent circuit in north Queensland.
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An endurance event at The Bend in South Australia will precede the Bathurst 1000, while a single event is set down for New Zealand in January – another potential logistic hot spot ahead of the Bathurst sprint round.
Meanwhile, one team won’t be returning to the 2020 Supercars Championship. After the departure of its primary sponsor, Team 23Red will exit the championship, with renowned racer Will Davison losing his drive in the team’s Ford Mustang.
The sport also faces an existential crisis as Holden departs, taking with it one of the great sporting rivalries of the last 30 years.
Key meetings to decide the shape of the sport’s next set of regulations are currently being held, with cost savings reportedly at the top of the agenda.
Finally, the sport will most likely need to replace its series sponsor, Virgin, when the current deal expires at the end of 2020. The COVID-19 slowdown will make this a very difficult task.
2020 Supercars calendar (provisional, remaining rounds)
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Sydney Motorsport Park |
June 27-28 |
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Winton Motor Raceway |
July 18-19 |
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Hidden Valley Raceway |
August 8-9 |
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Reid Park Street Circuit |
August 29-30 |
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The Bend Motorsport Park |
September 19-20 |
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Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit |
October 8-11 |
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Wanneroo Raceway |
October 31-November 1 |
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Symmons Plains Raceway |
November 21-22 |
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Sandown Raceway |
December 12-13 |
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Hampton Downs or Pukekohe Park |
January 9-10 |
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Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit |
February 5-7 |
