AGP to host 63-year Supercars first

This weekend’s Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint will play host to a Supercars first — a race on Thursday.

The March 31-April 2 event is the second round of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship. This weekend's event includes a race on the Thursday.

It’s the first time in the history of the ATCC/Supercars Championship, which began in 1960, that a race has been held on a Thursday.

Per V8 Sleuth, there have been 31 races held on a Friday or Monday, with 1091 races held on either a Saturday or Sunday.

Supercars have raced for points at the Grand Prix since 2018, and all three events so far — in 2018, 2019 and 2022 — hosted a race on Friday.

With Formula 2 and Formula 3 joining the Melbourne action, Supercars will race on a Thursday for the first time.

Thursday’s action will feature a blockbuster five Supercars sessions — two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions and a race.

There will be a sprint race on all four days of the event, with Thursday’s race — the 19-lap Race 3 — the longest of the weekend.

Friday’s action will feature the 15-lap Race 4, while Saturday and Sunday will feature 13-lap sprints.

The grids for all four races will be set by individual ARMOR ALL Qualifying sessions, which will be held across Thursday and Saturday.

Drivers will qualify for Races 3 and 4 on Thursday, and for Races 5 and 6 on Saturday morning.

Drivers must use both Hard and Super Soft tyre compounds in the four races, with compounds split for qualifying.

The Race 3 and Race 5 qualifying sessions will be held on the Hard tyre, and the Race 4 and 6 sessions on the Super Soft.

Cars will hit the track at 11:25am local time for Practice 1 on Thursday.

The first race of the weekend, Race 3, will commence at 5:45pm.

Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023: Session times

Thursday-Saturday times AEDT

Thursday, March 30

Friday, March 31

Saturday, April 1