Wildcards confirmed for new Supercars round

The series' debut at the brand new circuit will feature a 28-car grid, with Super2 drivers Macauley Jones and Kurt Kostecki set to run as Wildcard entries.

It will be a second main game outing for each driver, with Jones having run a fourth Brad Jones Racing entry at Hidden Valley earlier this month, while Kostecki is set to field his family-team run ex-Triple Eight Commodore at Queensland Raceway next month.

Jones also has three seasons worth of Supercars endurance races under his belt along with a pair of Wildcard starts last year, while Kostecki made a pair of starts for Team 18 as a replacement for the injured Lee Holdsworth back in 2016.

According to Kostecki, the two Super2 regulars will have their chances of a result bolstered by the fact that The Bend circuit is new for the entire field, and that it will be run on the same hard-compound Dunlop tyre used in the second-tier series.

“Because it’s a new track for everyone I think it levels out the playing field,” Kostecki told the official Supercars website.

“Queensland Raceway will be a good first one for us because we know it and it’ll give me some soft-tyre mileage.

“But Tailem Bend, no one has done Supercar laps there and it’s with the hard tyre, which we have a lot of experience on.”

The series has also confirmed that the 'On The Run' convenience store chain – owned by The Bend's executive director Sam Shahin – will be the major backer of the circuit's Supercars round.

It will be known as the OTR SuperSprint, and kicks off on August 24.