2018 Supercars Race Formats

Supercars Race Formats – what’s new in 2018?

Supercars commitment to improving the racing continues. Having refined the race formats to restore the excitement of the longer race and bring pit strategy back into play over the past couple of seasons, much of the calendar remains largely unchanged from 2017. However, the 2018 Supercars season sees the addition of yet more new excitement factors – twilight racing and the first points-paying trip to the Australian Grand Prix, a new multi-qualifying system in Perth and Tasmania, a return to night racing in Sydney, the introduction of a new event at The Bend Motorsport, and a return to the 2016 tyre construction – all of which should all add up to more challenging and entertaining racing for both the drivers and us, the fans…

Having moved to a simpler format structure in 2014, the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will again feature the four key race formats in 2018 – SuperSprint, International SuperSprint, SuperStreet and Enduro Cup, but new for this season is the inclusion of a SuperNight format and a newly named format for Phillip Island’s two 250km races, the Super500.

SuperSprint

Tasmania SuperSprint, Perth SuperSprint, Winton SuperSprint, Darwin Triple Crown, Ipswich SuperSprint, The Bend SuperSprint

Race format
In 2018 the SuperSprint format remains the same with all events comprising of one 120km race on Saturday and one 200km race on Sunday.

Introduced in 2016, the shorter 120km SuperSprint race on Saturday features a compulsory pit stop for new tyres. After a modification to the rules for tyre changes in the SuperSprint events was introduced in 2017, teams are now only required to change two tyres, rather than all four as seen in 2016.

The 200km SuperSprint races have a 120-litre minimum fuel drop and will feature two compulsory pit stops to take on the required amount of fuel. The Super Soft tyres are used at all SuperSprint events.

Practice and Qualifying
Practice for all SuperSprint rounds, except Tasmania and Perth, includes 135 minutes of practice on Friday and Saturday. Additional drivers are permitted to participate in these sessions. The Tasmania and Perth SuperSprint events incorporate 130 minutes of practice over the course of the weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). A further two 30-minute practice sessions, one at Winton and one at Ipswich, have been added for additional drivers only.

Qualifying for all SuperSprint events, except Tasmania and Perth, consists of one 15-minute session on Saturday to set the grid for Saturday’s race and 20 minutes on Sunday for Sunday’s race. However, the Darwin Triple Crown also features a Top Ten Shootout (the only SuperSprint event to do so), where the fastest ten qualifiers complete one flying lap each to determine the top ten on the grid.

New for 2018 is the introduction of a multi-qualifying system at the Tasmania and Perth SuperSprint events. Supercars’ two shortest circuits have had a modification to their qualifying structure in a bid to avoid the congestion issues over recent seasons as cars on flying laps came across others warming up for their runs. The new format sees a maximum of 16 cars on track at any given time.

The new format also places a greater emphasis on practice with the field split into groups based on practice times before a three-part Qualifying session. Combined Friday practice times and a 20-minute practice session on Sunday determine the seeding for Saturday and Sunday’s qualifying session respectively.

On both Saturday and Sunday, the bottom 16 cars from practice take to the track for the first ten-minute Q1 session. The top 10 cars advance straight to Q2 and do not have to participate in the first round of qualifying. The top six in Q1 then progress to Q2 joining the already qualified top-ten to fight for a spot in Q3 over another 10 minutes. The fastest 10 in Q2 then proceed to the Q3 session in the last of the 10-minute hit outs to set the final top ten spots on the grid. Each qualifying session is separated by five minutes, creating a total qualifying session time of 40 minutes. An extra set of tyres will be provided for both events, but must be returned on Saturday prior to qualifying.

International SuperSprint rounds

Melbourne 400, Auckland SuperSprint

Race format
With Supercars racing for points at Albert Park for the first time, twilight races headline the inaugural Melbourne 400. A pair of 25-lap/130km races on Friday and Saturday evening with a compulsory pit stop for tyres and fuel, and two 13-lap/70km sprint races on Saturday and Sunday afternoon make up the weekend’s race format – all of which are longer than the races that have run as part of the Australian Grand Prix support round in previous years. All four races feature the Super Soft tyre. The weekend’s highest points scorer is awarded the Larry Perkins Trophy.

Following significant criticism of the short sprint race format at Pukekohe in 2016, the Auckland SuperSprint race format was changed in 2017 to two 200km races instead of four 100km races, a format that remains in place in 2018. The two 200km SuperSprint races include a 120-litre minimum fuel drop, and two compulsory pit stops to take on the required amount of fuel. Both races feature the Soft tyre. The weekend’s highest points scorer is awarded the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.

Practice and Qualifying
After two 30-minute practice sessions on Thursday, four quick-fire qualifying sessions lasting just 10 minutes each are held across Thursday and Friday afternoon to set the grids for each of the four Melbourne 400 races.

The SuperSprint round in Auckland includes 80 minutes of Friday practice and 20 minutes on Saturday. Additional drivers are permitted to participate in these sessions. Qualifying consists of two 20-minute sessions ahead of each race, but new for 2018 is the addition of a Sunday Top Ten Shootout.

Super500

Phillip Island 500

Race format
April’s Phillip Island 500 event was extended to two 250km races in 2017. The pair of 250km races run on the Soft tyre include a minimum fuel drop of 140 litres in each race and two compulsory pit stops during each race.

Practice and Qualifying
Practice includes two forty-minute sessions on Friday with Qualifying consists of two 20-minute sessions ahead of each race, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

SuperStreet

Adelaide 500, Townsville 400, Newcastle 500

Race format
The season opening Adelaide 500 remains as a pair of 250km races having returned to the two-race format in 2017 after the Saturday race had been split into two 125km races in 2017. Both 250km races include a minimum fuel drop set at 140 litres in each and two compulsory pit stops.

The Townsville 400 remains at two 200km races. Both include a minimum fuel drop of 120 litres and two compulsory pit stops in each.

The Newcastle 500, the newest addition to the calendar having replaced the now defunct Sydney 500 as the season finale in 2017, comprises of two 250km races. Both races include a minimum fuel drop set at 140 litres that requires at least two pit stops to take on the required amount of fuel.

The Adelaide 500 is run on the Soft tyre, while the Townsville 400 and Newcastle 500 rounds is run on the SuperSoft tyre.

Practice and Qualifying
All three SuperStreet rounds include 80 minutes of Friday practice. However, the Adelaide 500 also includes an additional 20-minute session on Saturday. Additional drivers will be permitted to participate in these practice sessions.

Qualifying for all three SuperStreet rounds comprises of two 20-minute Qualifying sessions ahead of each race.
All three SuperStreet rounds also feature a Top-Ten Shootout, with the top ten qualifiers completing an additional one-lap flyer to set final top ten positions for Sunday’s race. However, introduced in 2017, the Adelaide 500 also encompasses a Top-Ten Shootout for Saturday’s race.

SuperNight

Sydney SuperNight 300

Race format
Marking the first Supercars night race on Australian soil since 1997, the Sydney SuperNight 300 features a single 300km race run on the Super Soft tyres in a three-hour window from 7-10pm. Three compulsory pit stops are in place.

Practice and Qualifying
Practice, qualifying and racing all take place on the same day. Practice includes two thirty-minute sessions with a one 20-minute Qualifying session ahead of the race.

Enduro Cup rounds

Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000, Gold Coast 600

Race format
The Pirtek Enduro Cup format remains unchanged for a sixth straight year. The Cup is awarded to the pair of drivers who accumulate the highest points tally across Supercars’ three endurance events the single Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 rounds and the two 300km race Gold Coast 600 round.

Regulations for these events call for two drivers per car, the regular series driver plus a co-driver. Teams cannot pair their regular drivers in the same entry, but must find non-championship drivers to share driving duties. Teams have the choice whether to field an Australian driver or international co-driver to partner their regular driver and can select drivers to compete across all three endurance events and run the same co-driver in all three or in any combination they choose.

Co-drivers must complete a compulsory minimum of 54 laps at the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000, and no driver can exceed 107 laps. The Gold Coast 600 requires that co-drivers do a minimum of 34 laps in each of the two races.

The Sandown 500 and the Gold Coast 600 are run on the SuperSoft tyre and the Bathurst 1000 features the Soft tyre.

Practice and Qualifying
All Enduro Cup races require mandatory pit stops for tyres, fuel and driver changes. Teams need to complete a minimum of three pit stops at Sandown, seven at Bathurst, and two in each race at the Gold Coast.

Practice for the Sandown 500 consists of three 30-minute sessions on Friday and one 15-minute session on Saturday before qualifying. The Sandown 500 has a unique format comprising of one x 20-minute Qualifying session and two 60km ‘Qualifying Races’ on Saturday which determining the qualifying positions. The 20-minute qualifying session on Saturday is open to any driver. Co-drivers compete in the first Qualifying Race, and the regular drivers contest the second Qualifying Race starting from where their co-driver finished. Both Qualifying Races do not include pit stops. Results of the 20-minute qualifying session set the grid positions for the first Qualifying Race. Grid positions for the second Qualifying Race are determined from the finishing order of the first Qualifying Race. The finishing position of the second Qualifying Race then determines the grid order for the main race.

Practice for the Bathurst 1000 comprises of six 60-minute sessions, three on Friday (the second of which is for co-drivers only), two on Saturday (the first for co-drivers only) and one on Sunday. Qualifying for the Bathurst 1000 features a forty-minute session on Friday followed by a Top-Ten Shootout on Saturday.

Practice for the Gold Coast 600 comprises of four 30-minute sessions, three on Friday (the second of which is for co-drivers only), and one on Saturday. Qualifying for the Gold Coast 600 features 20-minute Qualifying sessions ahead of each race. Sunday’s qualifying also includes a Top-Ten Shootout, with the top ten qualifiers completing an additional one-lap flyer to set the final top ten positions.