Six-day Super Bathurst to close out Supercars season
Supercars has confirmed that a bumper six-day Bathurst 1000 event will close out the 2021 season in early December.
As revealed by Autosport, the six-day Super Bathurst will combine elements of both the Bathurst 1000 and the Bathurst International.
The combination is a result of New South Wales' COVID-19 outbreak, which harpooned plans for separate events in November.
The Super Bathurst will effectively take over the cancelled Gold Coast 500 date, starting on Tuesday 30 November and ending with the Bathurst 1000 on 5 December.
A spectacular undercard will be in action over the six days including Super2, TCR Australia, S5000, Carrera Cup, GT World Challenge Australia, Touring Car Masters, Trans Am, SuperUtes and Toyota 86s.
It's expected that New South Wales will have reached a sufficient vaccination rate by that point that spectators will be allowed through the gates.
It is, however, likely that interstate visitation will be limited, with Queensland-based teams likely to require isolation or quarantine to return after the event.
Supercars and Australian Racing Group joining forces comes as a joint bid between TLA Worldwide and ARG has been all but green lit to purchase Supercars from Archer Capital.
“I would like to thank [Bathurst] Mayor [Ian] North, Rob Cameron at Repco and John McMellan at ARG for their collaboration over the past few weeks to put together what might be known as the best ever Repco Bathurst 1000," said Supercars CEO Sean Seamer.
“It’s been a tough year for motorsport fans but we’re confident this is the recipe for the best possible end to the 2021 season.”
ARG chairman John McMellan added: “It is very pleasing when everyone has the same goal which was to make the sport the priority and work collaboratively to deliver something special.
“We need to acknowledge the role that all of our respective sponsors played in assisting to make this happen which is reflective of their passion for the sport.
“This event will be a great opportunity to grab the family, go camping in the fresh rural air of Bathurst whilst being entertained by a truly dynamic range of motorsport.”
The combined Bathurst effort has indeed required some careful commercial management, given retail rivals Repco and Supercheap Auto are the title sponsors of the Bathurst 1000 and the Bathurst International respectively.
It's likely that some of the ARG-run categories will be sporting Supercheap signage at what is a Repco-sponsored event.
According to Repco boss Cameron, his company took a fans first approach to this bold Bathurst plan.
“The Repco crew across Australia and New Zealand are so excited to bring fans a true celebration of motorsport," he said.
“In a year that has been so challenging for the sport we love I want to thank the team at Supercars and ARG for putting fans first and working collaboratively with us to ensure we can put on a world class event.
“For us Bathurst is more than a race, it’s a symbol of everything we all love about the sport, and we can’t wait to bring this event to the fans.”
Supercars will need to stage four other events between now and Bathurst to satisfy its broadcast agreement with Fox Sports and the Seven Network.
Phillip Island and the Gold Coast have already been cancelled, while a Sydney Motorsport Park double-header has long been considered a likely outcome.
More details of the latest revised schedule are expected at some point this week.
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