Drivers visit New Zealand in lead-up to first Super 440

Drivers are in New Zealand talking up what is expected to be another huge weekend on the North Island.

There's just 44 days to go until Supercars hit the track in New Zealand for the first ITM Taupō Super 440 at Taupō International Motorsport Park.

Last year's Jason Richards Memorial Trophy winner, Anton De Pasquale has been joined by inuagural race winner at Taupō, Andre Heimgartner, who claimed an emotional victory in the wet in 2024.

Joining the pair in New Zealand this week is Ryan Wood, another rookie hoping to make his mark on home soil this time around.

A sellout crowd of 67,411 attended last year's event at Taupō and drivers want another strong turnout in 2025.

The Taupō track to town event, where all 24 Championship Supercars drove from the circuit into Taupō was one of the highlights of 2024 with spectacular vision capturing thousands of fans lining the streets to officially welcome drivers to the region.

The Super400 and previous SuperSprint format used in 2024 have been replaced by the new Super 440 format at the Taupō Super 440, Tasmania Super 440, Perth Super 440, Darwin Triple Crown, and Ipswich Super 440.

The new Super 440 format features two 120km sprint races on Saturday and a 200km refuelling race on Sunday.

The Saturday sprint races at these events will be split between the new-for-2025 Dunlop Soft tyre and Dunlop Super Soft tyre, adding to the challenge of these events.

The drivers will visit Taupō while in new Zealand this week, before returning to prepare for this year's ITM Taupō Super440 which runs 11-13 April. Tickets and corporate hospitality are available through Supercars.com.

The 2025 Supercars season continues with four races at the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint at the Louis Vutton Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 13-16.