2020 Supercars Darwin Triple Crown session times and preview
Supercars kicks off its Hidden Valley double-header this weekend with the 2020 Darwin Triple Crown.
It's been another dramatic build-up to an event for the Aussie series, which was forced to postpone the opening leg of the Darwin double-header thanks to a last-minute border restriction that saw a number of staff and drivers put into hotel quarantine upon arriving in Darwin last Wednesday.
NT health officials later revoked the Brisbane hot spot declaration and the affected staff were released from quarantine, however by then the Darwin Triple Crown had already been pushed back to August 15-16.
The polarising mixed compound tyre rules will be retained for the first leg of the Darwin double, however a tweak will mean drivers will be restricted to the hard compound tyre for the three-stage qualifying on Saturday.
Tyre choice will then be open for all three races and Sunday's two qualifying sessions, with just two sets of soft compound Dunlops and three sets of hards available from the end of practice onwards.
The races will be shorter than we've seen since the resumption of the season, too, with each heat just 110 kilometres.
All three will feature a mandatory stop for at least two tyres. Having the hard and soft compound on the car at the same time is not allowed.
McLaughlin heads into the round with a healthy 107-point series lead over Jamie Whincup.
2020 Supercars Darwin Triple Crown session times
Saturday 15th August 2020
- Rookie Session: 10:40-11:00 AEST (10:10-10:30 local)
- Practice 1: 11:20-11:50 AEST (10:50-11:20 local)
- Practice 2: 12:20-12:50 AEST (11:50-12:20 local)
- Qualifying 1: 13:35-13:45 AEST (13:05-13:15 local)
- Qualifying 2: 13:50-14:00 AEST (13:20-13:30 local)
- Top 15 Shootout: 14:10-14:50 AEST (13:40-14:20 local)
- Race 1: 16:00-16:47 AEST (15:30-16:17 local)
Sunday 16th August 2020
- Qualifying Race 2: 12:10-12:20 AEST (11:40-11:50 local)
- Qualifying Race 3: 12:25-12:35 AEST (11:55-12:05 local)
- Race 2: 13:50-14:37 AEST (13:20-14:07 local)
- Race 3: 16:00-16:47 AEST (15:30-16:17 local)
2020 Supercars Darwin Triple Crown tyre allocation
Each driver will start the weekend with four pre-marked tyres (either compound), 16 soft compound tyres and 12 hard compound tyres.
At the end of Practice 2 the four pre-marked tyres and eight of the soft compound tyres need to be returned to Dunlop.
That will leave each driver with eight soft tyres and 12 hard tyres for the remainder of the weekend.
2020 Darwin Triple Crown entry list
| Num | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  Bryce Fullwood | Mobil 1™ Middy's Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 3 | Macauley Jones | Team Cooldrive | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 4 | Jack Smith | SCT Logistics Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 5 | Lee Holdsworth | Truck Assist Tekno Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 6 | Cameron Waters | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 7 |  Andre Heimgartner | NED Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 8 | Nick Percat | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 9 | David Reynolds | Penrite Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 12 | Fabian Coulthard | DJR Team Penske | Ford Mustang GT |
| 14 | Todd Hazelwood | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 15 | Rick Kelly | Castrol Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 17 | Scott McLaughlin | DJR Team Penske | Ford Mustang GT |
| 18 | Mark Winterbottom | Irwin Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 19 | Alex Davison | Team Sydney | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 20 | Scott Pye | Team 18 | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 22 | Chris Pither | Team Sydney | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 25 | Chaz Mostert | Mobil 1™ Appliances Online Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 34 | Zane Goddard | Matt Stone Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 35 | Garry Jacobson | Matt Stone Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 44 | James Courtney | Boost Mobile Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 55 | Jack Le Brocq | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT |
| 88 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore ZB |
| 99 | Anton De Pasquale | Penrite Racing | Holden Commodore ZB |
| View full results | |||
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About this article
| Series | Supercars |
| Event | Hidden Valley |
| Author | Andrew van Leeuwen |
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