Homebush finale for 2009 season

The series has been lobbying for an event at the venue for several years, and earlier this year the New South Wales Government showed support for the project, with the event finally being confirmed today as next season's finale.

It will join the Townsville race in July as a new venue on the calendar, both events held on street circuits and both coming about due to support from the respective state goverments.

Other changes to the calendar include the Winton race moving from August back to May, and the swapping of the Barbagallo round from May to November with the Tasmanian round at Symmons Plains which will move from November to May.

The announcement follows recent changes to next year's rules, which include a softer compound tyre to be used alongside the standard tyre at Winton, Symmons Plains, Hidden Valley, Sandown, Queensland Raceway and Barbagallo Raceway. It will comprise four of the twelve tyre sets, but will not be allowed to be used in practice or qualifying.

The final session of qualifying will now be a single-lap shootout, rather than the ten minute Formula One-style session currently used.

The category has confirmed the switch to 85 percent ethanol E85 fuel next season, which with noticably worse fuel consumption has led the category to introduce compulsory refuelling in every race.

However, specific pitstop windows have been removed and refuelling stops can now include other work on a car including changing tyres regardless of whether it is a sprint or endurance race. However, only six crew members can work on the car during a pit stop.

A change that could cause more problems than it solves is that cars will be permitted to overlap (but not pass) prior to crossing the control line at a restart.

Date                        Venue
March 19-22                 Clipsal 500, Adelaide
March 26-29                 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne
                            (non-championship)
April 17-19                 Hamilton 400, New Zealand
May 1-3                     Winton Raceway, Victoria
May 29-31                   Tasmania Challenge, Symmons Plains
June 19-21                  SKYCITY Challenge, Hidden Valley
July 10-12                  Townsville 400, Queensland
July 31-August 2            Sandown, Victoria
August 21-23                Queensland Raceway, Ipswich
September 11-13             L&H 500, Phillip Island
October 8-11                Supercheap Auto 1000, Bathurst
October 22-25               Nikon Indy 300, Surfers Paradise
November 5-7                Gulf Air Desert 400, Bahrain
November 20-22              Barbagallo, Western Australia
December 4-6                Sydney 400, Homebush