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Supercars The Bend

2023 Supercars The Bend SuperSprint session times and preview

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship season continues this weekend at The Bend Motorsport Park.

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The series will make the first of two trips to South Australia with what has become an annual trek to Tailem Bend.

It will be a revamped The Bend Motorsport Park that greets the Supercars field thanks to a new deal with Shell licensee Viva Energy.

The Shahin family, which owns The Bend, recently sold its successful chain of service stations to Viva for $1.2 billion.

As part of the sale, The Bend has been rebranded as Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.

The long, flowing circuit will provide the latest test to the troublesome parity between the Ford Mustangs and the Chevrolet Camaros, thanks to its aero-dependant nature.

Ford teams are still grappling with a new rear aero package that was debuted at the Townsville 500 back in early July.

The two-day format returns at The Bend with Supercars track action limited to Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday kicks off with practice ahead of three-part, knock-out qualifying and the first of three 100-kilometre sprint races.

On Sunday there is back-to-back qualifying followed by the second and third one-stop, tyres-only races.

They Dunlop soft tyre will be in action across the weekend, while there is a tweak to the pit stop rules to open up the strategy.

The pit window will open on lap three instead of the usual lap five, which is tied to the longer layout compared to other circuits, which means each race is just 20 laps.

Between Gen3 and the parity saga, the form is hard to read heading into such an aero-dependant circuit.

However even if the Chevrolets continue their dominance there is a tasty title battle unfolding between the two Erebus drivers and the two Triple Eight drivers.

Heading into The Bend its Erebus on top, with Brodie Kostecki leading the way by 41 points over teammate Will Brown.

Shane van Gisbergen is 54 points back and Broc Feeney 67.

Adding spice to that battle is that Triple Eight has this week confirmed the signing of Brown to replace NASCAR-bound van Gisbergen next year.

Kostecki and van Gisbergen may have some jet lag to deal with too, the pair flying straight back from the US after their NASCAR outings in Indianapolis.

The undercard at The Bend features Touring Car Masters, S5000, V8 SuperUtes, Toyota 86s and Carrera Cup.

2023 Supercars The Bend SuperSprint session times

All times local (GMT +9:30)

Friday August 18

9:30-9:50 Touring Car Masters – Practice
10:00-10:20 S5000 – Practice 1
10:30-10:50 V8 SuperUtes – Practice
11:00-11:20 Toyota 86s – Practice 1
11:35-12:00 Carrera Cup – Practice 1
12:10-12:30 Touring Car Masters – Qualifying
12:40-13:00 S5000 – Practice 2
13:10-13:30 V8 SuperUtes – Qualifying
13:45-14:05 Toyota 86s – Practice 2
14:15-14:40 Carrera Cup – Practice 2
14:50-15:10 S5000 – Qualifying
15:20-15:40 Touring Car Masters – Trophy Race

Saturday August 19

7:35-8:00 S5000 – Race 1
8:10-8:30 Touring Car Masters – Race 1
8:40-9:00 V8 SuperUtes – Race 1
9:10-9:30 Toyota 86s – Qualifying
9:45-10:15 Supercars – Practice 1
10:35-10:55 Carrera Cup – Qualifying
11:05-11:30 S5000 – Race 2
11:40-12:10 Supercars – Practice 2
12:30-12:50 Touring Car Masters – Race 2
13:00-13:25 V8 SuperUtes – Race 2
13:40-13:55 Supercars – Qualifying (Part 1)
14:00-14:15 Supercars – Qualifying (Part 2)
14:20-14:30 Supercars – Qualifying (Part 3)
14:50-15:10 Toyota 86s – Race 1
15:20-15:45 Carrera Cup – Race 1
16:30-17:23 Supercars – Race 1

Sunday August 20

8:00-8:20 V8 SuperUtes – Race 3
8:30-8:55 Toyota 86s – Race 2
9:05-9:30 S5000 – Race 3
9:45-10:00 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 2)
10:10-10:25 Supercars – Qualifying (Race 3)
10:40-11:20 Carrera Cup – Race 2
11:30-11:50 Touring Car Masters – Race 3
12:00-12:20 V8 SuperUtes – Race 4
12:50-13:43 Supercars – Race 2
14:05-14:25 Toyota 86s – Race 3
14:35-15:00 Carrera Cup – Race 3
15:50-16:43 Supercars – Race 3

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