Full unification of ARG, Motorsport Australia Championships

The SpeedSeries name was introduced for this season to basically brand the broadcast package of the ARG and Motorsport Australia Championship events.

Confusingly, however, some SpeedSeries rounds were ARG events such as the Bathurst 6 Hour and Race Tasmania and some still fell under the Motorsport Australia Championships banner, colloquially known as Shannons events.

That has been simplified for 2023 with the SpeedSeries banner to be the sole branding used for all of the second tier events throughout the season.

The calendar for the 2023 SpeedSeries has also been released, the season kicking off with Race Tasmania at Symmons Plains on the last weekend of February before the Bathurst 6 Hour on Easter weekend in April.

A yet-to-be-confirmed round in Victoria will take place on the last weekend of May ahead of trips to Sydney Motorsport Park in late June and Queensland Raceway in early August.

The season then concludes with Sandown in mid-September and the Bathurst International in early November.

Underpinning the SpeedSeries will once again be the ARG suite of categories that includes TCR Australia, S5000, Trans Am, GT World Challenge Australia, Porsche Sprint Cup and Touring Cars Masters.

However a definitive breakdown of which categories will race at which events is yet to be revealed.

TCR Australia is likely to be in action at most, if not all, of those events, as will the increasingly popular Trans Am series.

S5000, however, is expected to target a more compact, yet high-profile, schedule that could include more Supercars events, in response to poor grid numbers this year.

Australian GT and Touring Car Masters are also likely to split their schedule between SpeedSeries and Supercars events.

“Creating a single brand for the suite of ARG and Motorsport Australia categories to fall under made sense for all concerned, and it’s been a great collaboration with the team at Motorsport Australia to make it happen,” said ARG COO Liam Curkpatrick.

“It makes sense for the fans, partners, for the broadcasters and for the categories themselves who will be able to tell their own supporters, sponsors and followers that they are racing at a ‘SpeedSeries’ event wherever they go throughout the year.

“The unified approach will mean our marketing, promotion and management of each event can be even more effective and continue to build on the record attendances and great broadcast audiences seen this year.

“2022 has served as something of a soft launch for the ‘SpeedSeries’ brand, but it's clear and simple branding has worked very well and we are looking forward to collaborating with the team at Motorsport Australia to build it further in 2023 and beyond.”

Motorsport Australia's Director of Motorsport & Commercial Operation Michael Smith welcomed that collaboration.

“After an interrupted few years, 2022 allowed us to deliver a huge range of events with some record crowds at venues across the country and plenty of people watching on through the high-quality Stan and Nine broadcasts," he said.

"These events highlighted the strong interest in the sport and the competing categories.

“Next year sees the SpeedSeries take another step forward in its evolution, with a clear identity and more quality events that we will work closely with the team at ARG to deliver.

“We’re also really excited to be able to announce a number of other events alongside the SpeedSeries to provide even more track time and racing options for a range of national and state categories eager to compete on the national stage. We’ll share more about this news in the coming weeks.”

2023 SpeedSeries calendar