TCR Australia cancels Sandown round

The series was set to continue its 2021 campaign at the suburban Melbourne circuit on September 17-19 on the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships bill.

However with both Melbourne and Sydney currently locked down due to COVID-19 outbreaks, series promoter Australian Racing Group and Motorsport Australia have opted to cancel the Sandown event.

In its place will be a revamped version of the recently-added event at The Bend on October 15-17, which will now feature two TCR Australia rounds on the one weekend.

Exactly how that will happen in regards to format will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The series has been on hiatus since its raced at Sydney Motorsport Park in early May, after the Morgan Park round was first postponed, and then cancelled, due to COVID restrictions.

“Having to drop Sandown from the calendar of our categories was one of the hardest decisions that we have had to make during these recent times," said ARG CEO Matt Braid.

"We feel for fans of our categories who have been anticipating a return to racing at the Melbourne.

“However, the creation of a ‘two-in-one’ race meeting at Tailem Bend is going to be one of the most exciting race weekends that Australian motorsport fans have seen in some time.

“Whether watching at home on the Seven Network or at the track, there will be will non-stop racing action from our top-class categories over the entire weekend. It will also be fascinating to see how the teams and drivers deal with the packed race schedule, and it will be great to watch it all unfold at The Bend in October.”

The Bend two-in-one round going ahead will depend on what happens in Sydney and Melbourne in the coming weeks.

The New South Wales situation is particularly troubling, the state recording an outbreak-high 478 positive cases yesterday.

A number of competitors across the Motorsport Australia Championships categories, including TCR front-runner Wall Racing, are based in Sydney and NSW.

Melbourne, another hub for competitors, yesterday announced a two-week extension of its lockdown after recording 22 new infections.