Formats announced for 2021 Repco Supercars Championship
The race formats for the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship have been announced today consisting of 32 races across the 12-event calendar.
The season will begin with two 250km races at the Mt Panorama 500 from 26-28 February, and finish with the traditional 500km street circuit format of two single-driver races on the Gold Coast in December.
Supercars Chief Operating Officer Shane Howard said the Gold Coast 500 will be the perfect way to end the year on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
“As we did prior to 2020, we will finish with two 250km single-driver races to decide the Championship,” Howard said.
“For fans around the world it will be thrilling to see a new Champion crowned in December, 30 years since racing first began on the Gold Coast street circuit.”
There will be three different Dunlop tyre compounds used throughout the Championship.
The new Dunlop Super Soft tyre, trialed in late 2020, to be used at the Winton and Darwin events where tyre degradation is much lower than other circuits.
All other events will run with regular Dunlop hard and soft compounds.
Managing Director, Dunlop Tyres - Chris Radin says Dunlop will continue to offer a range of tyre configurations including Soft, Hard and Wet tyres.
“2021 will be the 20th year Dunlop SP Sport Maxx has been the control tyre for Supercars and looks set to be the most exciting ever,” Radin said.
“Dunlop is synonymous with innovation in tyre technology and in 2021 will provide Supercars teams with various tyre compounds to suit different race formats, driving high performance racing across 11 different track surfaces.
“Dunlop is excited to offer a new Super Soft tyre in 2021 alongside the Soft, Hard and Wet tyre configurations to help Supercars deliver the most exciting racing possible for the fans.
“The continuation of the additional tyre allocations introduced in 2020 ensures teams’ have access to new Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres from the first practice.
“Tyre management strategies will become an even more important variable in race winning success, generating plenty of Dunlop tyre talk up and down pit lane, while keeping race fans thoroughly entertained.”
Strategies around refueling will be needed at three 500km events and the only endurance event to feature co-drivers on the calendar, the Repco Bathurst 1000.
“We’re excited for the return of in-race refuelling as it provides an added dimension and challenge for teams as they must manage their fuel strategies throughout a race,” said Adam Arnold, General Manager - Marketing and Innovation at BP.
“The teamwork in BP Ultimate Pit Lane also comes to the fore as crews must work together quickly and safely as they change tyres and refuel.
“We’re looking forward to seeing every team on the Supercars grid again fuelled with BP fuel.”
Seven events will use the three-race SuperSprint format used in 2020, while the 400km round at the Formula 1 Australia Grand Prix will consist of four races over three-days.
The qualifying sessions at two of the Series’ shorter circuits, Tasmania and Perth, will be split into two groups, made up of alternate pit lane order – meaning one car per team.
There will be nine ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootouts across the year, including two for both races of the season opening Mt Panorama 500 and season closing Gold Coast 500.
In total, Supercars will conduct over 4300km of racing over the 12-event calendar.
Supercars will officially return to the track in 2021 with a test day over the weekend of 13-14 February at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Race formats subject to change
*Denotes event will include a Top Ten Shootout** Denotes event will include two Top Ten Shootouts^Denotes Endurance event featuring co-drivers
