Supercars teams on track for Tassie as NZ sea freight returns

Supercars have commenced servicing and repairs after containers returned back to Australia from New Zealand.

The major logistical mission to get 24 cars and equipment to and from New Zealand has come to a close, with containers landing in recent days.

The Supercars field was sea freighted to New Zealand for the inaugural ITM NZ Double Header, which took place over two weeks last month.

Cars and equipment were quickly packed into containers following the Christchurch finale on Sunday April 19, before setting sail for Australia.

The mission included a snap decision to pack up one day early in Taupō amid the threat of Cyclone Vaianu in order to safely reach Christchurch.

Cars returned to their respective team headquarters in the conditions they finished the race in, with teams wasting little time tearing them down and commencing servicing.

From this week, teams have two weeks to turn their cars around for the Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440 on May 22-24, which kicks off a big swing of Australian events.

After being freighted to and from Tasmania across the Bass Strait, cars will then return to base before being transported over 3000 kilometres north for the betr Darwin Triple Crown.

Following Darwin, teams will again return home before having two weeks to prepare for the NTI Townsville 500, before another big transport mission to Perth.

Teams are set to log over 18,000 kilometres across the Darwin, Townsville and Perth events, before the Repco Sprint Cup rounds out in Ipswich.

Six teams — Penrite Racing, Walkinshaw TWG Racing, Tickford Racing, Team 18, Blanchard Racing Team and Erebus Motorsport — are based in Melbourne. There are four in south-east Queensland — Red Bull Ampol Racing, Shell V-Power Racing Team, Matt Stone Racing and PremiAir Racing.

Brad Jones Racing is the only rural-based team, out of Albury.

Track action commences in Tasmania on Friday May 22.