What's new in 2025: Introducing The Bend 500

Supercars.com is highlighting some key on- and off-track changes coming in 2025, continuing with a new home for the pre-Bathurst enduro.

As part of a revamped calendar for the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship, the pre-Bathurst enduro shifts from Victoria to South Australia.

For the first time ever, The Bend Motorsport Park will play host to The Bend 500 from September 12-14, the first of two events that make up the Enduro Cup.

The new enduro at The Bend could prove to be a make-or-break weekend for drivers aiming to qualify for the Finals in the final three rounds of the championship season, with new challenges set to be posed at the new event.

History of The Bend

The brainchild of South Australian businessmen and racers Yasser and Sam Shahin, The Bend Motorsport Park hosted the Supercars Championship for the first time in 2018, and is located 85km south-east of Adelaide in Tailem Bend.

Arguably the most state-of-the-art motorsport facility in the country, Supercars have featured at The Bend seven times (including a COVID double-header in 2020), before going on hiatus from the calendar last year.

All of those events have been sprint events, although the venue has long harboured ambitions to host a Supercars enduro, which was officially confirmed in October last year.

The venue has hosted major endurance races in the past, namely the 4 Hours of The Bend in January 2020 as part of the Asian Le Mans Series, which utilised the 7.77km GT Circuit, the second largest permanent race track in the world.

As with all bar one of the previous Supercars events held in Tailem Bend, The Bend 500 will be held on the International Circuit, measuring at 4.95km.

History of the '500'

In the Supercars era (post-1997), the pre-Bathurst 500km enduro has been held at three different venues; Sandown, Queensland Raceway, and Phillip Island.

The 1997 and 1998 Sandown 500s were non-championship rounds, as were the corresponding Bathurst 1000s, but in 1999 enduros were brought into the championship season.

In 1999, the first shift for the pre-Bathurst enduro saw the Supercars Championship field tackle 500km at the newly-opened Queensland Raceway, with Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall claiming the victory.

The last Queensland 500 was held in 2002, with the enduro shifting back to Sandown from 2003 to 2007, with the Melbourne venue the scene of some extraordinary moments in that time.

In 2008, the '500' shifted to Phillip Island in a back to the future enduro, with the Grand Prix Circuit playing host to the Armstrong 500 between 1960 and 1962 before shifting to Bathurst and becoming the event we know today.

In 2012, Sandown was once again reinstated as an enduro, and maintained that status until last year, although no Sandown 500 was held between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID pandemic.

What to expect

The Bend 500 will be the beginning of a crucial stage of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship, as it will play host to the first of two events that make up the revived Enduro Cup.

The winner of the Enduro Cup will receive an automatic berth into the Finals alongside the winner of the new Sprint Cup, regardless of where they're placed in the points standings at the conclusion of the Repco Bathurst 1000.

For teams and drivers who may not be in a position to qualify for the Finals based on points, the promise of a berth for the Enduro Cup winner could see teams strategically shift focus towards the Enduro Cup.

Although the fast, flowing circuit won't punish mistakes as severely as Sandown, nailing car setup will be crucial to stay in the game across the 500km journey.

We have also seen in that past that The Bend can be a very tricky circuit to master in the wet, which could very easily add another variable, as September is one of the wetter months in Tailem Bend.

There will also be a first on the support bill, with the FIA TCR World Tour set to support the Repco Supercars Championship for the first time.

Tickets for the season-opening round in Sydney, on February 21-23, are on sale now.