V8 Supercars return to Sydney Motorsport Park will become a weekend race meeting with a two-race format on the traditional 3.9km Grand Prix layout.
The newly renamed and refurbished Sydney Motorsport Park, formerly Eastern Creek Raceway, will host its’ first major race meeting having been added to the 2012 V8 Supercar calendar for August 24-26.
Sydney Motorsport Park has been upgraded recently, in a $12m investment between the NSW State Government and Australian Racing Drivers’ Club (ARDC).
The two-day meeting format will be trialed at Sydney Motorsport Park, promising a condensed weekend loaded with a full V8 Supercar card and support class action.
The weekend will consist of two V8 Supercar 30-minute practice sessions, a qualifying session and 140km race on Saturday while Sunday will host one morning practice session, qualifying and a longer 220km race. Teams will use a combination of hard and soft tyres in both races.
CEO David Malone says V8 Supercars is very interested in the new section at Sydney Motorsport Park should the category return after the one-off 2012 event.
“We will be watching the first few race meetings on the extended layout with great interest. In the meantime the 3.9km Grand Prix layout at Sydney Motorsport Park is a proven, known quantity and distance for V8 Supercars and the teams,” Mr Malone said.
“It has been the scene of some amazing events across 20 years including Marcos Ambrose’ first two Championships, the infamous Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall incident in 2003 right back through to the very early days of V8 Supercars.
“Given the standard of the racing and the drama of our two races at the fast-flowing Phillip Island layout last week we are in for a great two days of racing.”
ARDC CEO Glenn Matthews said he was very confident that the two-day race meeting format will be successful at Sydney Motorsport Park.
“Taking an already exciting race meeting and condensing it into two days can only mean one thing – more on track action, and more excitement for the fans,” said Mr Matthews.
“We’re very proud of the facility we’ve built here at Sydney Motorsport Park, and the Grand Prix circuit is one of four configurations that are now available.”
There will be additional announcements, including support categories, ticket pricing and on sale dates - regarding round nine of the V8 Supercar Championship, to be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on August 25 and 26 in coming weeks.
Cole Hitchcock | Media Manager | D +61 7 5630 0315
M 0412 743 097 | F +61 7 5630 0338 | P +61 7 5630 0364 | www.v8supercars.com.au
PO Box 607, Southport BC, QLD, 4215