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Sydney's special place in Supercars history

29 Oct 2021
Sydney Motorsport Park will race into the history books this weekend
3 mins by James Pavey
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Sydney Motorsport Park will race into the history books from this weekend as it embarks on four straight weekends of racing.

For the first time in championship history, four events will be held at the same venue.

The opening race of this weekend's Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight will be the first race in 104 days following July’s WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint.

  • Fast Facts: Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight

The 125 days between the 2020 Adelaide 500 and first SMSP round of last year’s COVID-affected championship is the record.

Saturday's first race, which will be held under lights, will also be the 60th championship race at SMSP dating back to 1992.

This weekend’s event will be the 26th time the Repco Supercars Championship has held a round at SMSP.

It will also be the second year in a row that SMSP will hold multiple rounds during a season.

Supercars are back in Sydney

With Bathurst to follow the fourth Sydney event, it will be the first time more than three rounds in a row have been run in the same state in championship history.

Earlier this year, Townsville hosted two rounds in a season for the second year in a row.

The NTI Townsville 500 staged dual 250km races, with the WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint hosting three sprint races.

The first three Sydney events will feature the three-race format, with the first and second events to be headlined by night races.

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The fourth Sydney event, the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, will be headlined by two 250km, 64-lap refuelling races.

With Bathurst, Townsville and Sydney hosting multiple rounds this year, the 2021 season is just the 10th to feature two rounds at the same venue.

Sandown and Adelaide International Raceway hosted a sprint an an enduro in 1976 and 1977.

It would be another 14 years before another circuit - Lakeside in 1991 - hosted two events.

Enduros returned to championship status in 1999, and with it, the new Queensland Raceway hosted two rounds. It did so in 2000.

Sydney Motorsport Park, then under the Eastern Creek Raceway banner, hosted two rounds in 2003 and 2004. Both seasons ended in Sydney, and Marcos Ambrose was champion on both occasions.

Phillip Island hosted two rounds in 2009; it initially held the pre-Bathurst 500km enduro, before it returned to replace the later season Bahrain sprint round.

Last year, SMSP was the first venue to host consecutive rounds, with Darwin the first venue to hold consecutive rounds on back-to-back weekends.

The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship will continue at this weekend’s Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight. Tickets for all four upcoming Sydney events are on sale now.

All sessions will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and streamed via Kayo. The Seven Network will broadcast live from 3:30pm AEDT on Saturday and 12:30pm AEDT on Sunday.

Venues to host repeat rounds in an ATCC/Supercars season

Sandown (two in 1976, two in 1977)Adelaide International Raceway (two in 1976, two in 1977)Lakeside (two in 1991)Queensland Raceway (two in 1999, two in 2000)Eastern Creek/Sydney Motorsport Park (two in 2003, two in 2004, two in 2020, four in 2021)Phillip Island (two in 2009)Darwin (two in 2020)Townsville (two in 2020, two in 2021)Tailem Bend (two in 2020)Bathurst (two in 2021)

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