The touring car series faces the pandemic’s biggest challenge yet as both Victoria and New South Wales battle virus outbreaks and lockdowns.
The country’s two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney, are both currently closed, with case numbers not pointing to a quick reopening.
Victoria recorded 71 new positive cases today, while New South Wales added 818 cases and three deaths to the largest outbreak Australia has seen, at least in terms of daily numbers.
With six teams based in Victoria and one in New South Wales and four of the remaining five events scheduled to take place in those two states, questions are being asked about how Supercars will complete its 2021 season.
Another five rounds are required to complete the transfer agreement, while the Bathurst 1000 – which takes place in the regional NSW – is seen as critical to many of the teams’ commercial deals.
At the very least, these teams may have to be relocated to the affected areas, as was the case with the Melbourne outbreak last year, to ensure that the races can then continue in areas that are not currently affected, such as Queensland and South Australia.
Even the Gold Coast 500 is believed to be in doubt, although Queensland is not closed due to the financial risk of building a street circuit at a time when crowd health warnings can change so quickly.
But despite the enormous challenge ahead, Supercars says it has committed to completing five more laps – including the Bathurst 1000.
“Supercars is committed to running the next five rounds of the championship in 2021 and is working with all relevant governments and health agencies to ensure this is done safely,” the series said in a statement.
“As Supercars shares the ongoing frustrations with COVID-19 of all Australians, especially those on the East Coast, we are working hard to deliver the remaining races and thank our fans once again for accompanying us on this journey .
“We are committed to the 2021 season, including the races at our main event, the Repco Bathurst 1000.”
As it stands, the Winton season will continue on the first weekend in October.
This is followed by the MotoGP replacement event on Phillip Island from October 23rd to 24th, ahead of the Bathurst 1000 on the first weekend in November.
The Sydney SuperNight and Gold Coast 500 will round off the season from November 19-21 and December 3-5, respectively.
Speaking to Motorsport.com last week, Tim Edwards, CEO of Tickford Racing and a member of the Supercars Commission, said it was possible to end the season despite pointing out possible changes to the existing schedule.
“We showed last year that we can handle some pretty challenging circumstances,” he said.
“Everyone is determined to make this happen. Will it be as it was published right now? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.
“We’re lucky enough to have six or seven weeks before the first of these events.
“We’re probably going to take a deep breath by the end of this month and say, okay, how does it look? Then we take another deep breath a few weeks later and as we get closer we need to make changes, I’m sure we will – similarly like last year.
“But there is an obligation on everyone to make sure we deliver the championship.”
