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Melbourne Supercars teams bracing for more border issues

The Melbourne-based Supercars teams are preparing to spend more time on the road to ensure next month's Queensland Raceway round goes ahead.

Watch: Supercars: Melbourne teams bracing for more border issues

With both Sydney and Melbourne currently locked down due to COVID-19 outbreaks, Supercars has decided to continue its season at QR on August 21-22

That date was originally set aside for the Sydney SuperNight, however that event has been postponed due to what is expected to be an extended lockdown in the NSW capital. 

While Melbourne's outbreak isn't as bad as Sydney's, the highly-contagious Delta strain has seen Queensland already slam its border shut to new arrivals from Victoria.

With the six Melbourne-based teams all set to return home either tonight or tomorrow following the Townsville SuperSprint, plans are already being put in place to ensure they can return for QR even if the outbreak isn't contained.

While firm details are still limited, the affected teams have been told to prepare for a two-week stint on the road before QR to help comply with any potential border regulations.

The same system was used to get the Melbourne teams into the Northern Territory a few weeks back, although at that point New South Wales was open to Victoria and COVID-free, making it the perfect sanctuary for teams. 

However the NSW situation means that plan won't necessarily work this time around, particularly if Queensland closes its border to the entire state rather than just Greater Sydney. Every other state and territory in the country has already locked out Melburnians.

There is scope for that to change in the coming weeks, though, with a little over a fortnight between now and when teams would have to leave if quarantine/isolation is still required.

Walkinshaw Andretti United, Team 18, Blanchard Racing Team, Tickford Racing, Erebus Motorsport and Kelly Grove Racing are all based in Melbourne.

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