Supercars reveals full 2018 calendar

Supercars trialled the use of lights with a practice run at the Sydney circuit back in August, and has now confirmed that the SMP round will take place at night in 2018.

The early August round will be run under the ‘SuperNight 300’ format, with a single 300-kilometre race to be squeezed into a tight 7-10pm time slot on a Saturday evening.

The other new addition to the calendar is a round at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia, which will be the final pre-enduro sprint meeting at the end of August as confirmed yesterday.

Outside of that, there are few surprises on the schedule.

The Adelaide 500 will open the new season on the first weekend in March, followed by the Australian Grand Prix three weeks later, which forms part of the actual championship for the first time.

The remainder of the rounds hold roughly the same dates as this season, the only noteworthy difference being that there is no clash between the Gold Coast Supercars round and the Phillip Island MotoGP round, the bike race shifting to the last weekend in October.

The season will come to a close on the last weekend in November.

“We have added two new feature events in the Australian Grand Prix and Tailem Bend while improving our continuity and momentum through the season,” Supercars CEO James Warburton said.

“Competing for Championship points for the first time at the Australian Grand Prix has been a long-term goal for our sport and we are honoured to be able to do so on such an international stage.

“Tailem Bend will be a premier motor racing circuit in Australasia and one we are delighted to be making our debut at in August as part of an initial a four-year deal.”

As expected the planned expansion into Asia has been shifted back until at least 2019, with no rounds outside of Australia/New Zealand.

The date clash between the Sandown 500 and Singapore remains in place for at least next year.

According to Warburton, there are still agreements in place with promoters in Asia and plans to head back to the region in 2019 are progressing.

“We are making strong progress with our Asian promoters and are committed to these being sustainable long term rather than short-term opportunities.”

Supercars has also confirmed a seven-round Super2 schedule, which includes the Adelaide 500, Symmons Plains, Perth, Townsville, Sandown, Bathurst, and Newcastle.

The Bathurst round will return to being a points-paying Super2 round, after an experiment to tempt Super2 teams into running wildcard entries in the 1000 failed to pay off.