DESPITE BEING vocal in their displeasure about being dropped from Supercars’ revised 2020 calendar last month, The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia has put their hand up to support Supercars by hosting a ‘hub’ for the category this year.

WORDS: Richard Craill

THE BEND Motorsport Park has put up its hand to host a Supercars ‘hub’ should the championship ask for it, The Race Torque can confirm.

The Bend’s Managing Director Sam Shahin says his track would be more than willing to assist Supercars’ return to the circuit this year – despite being vocally unhappy about an earlier decision to drop their scheduled 2020 round when the revised calendar was released last month.

Regardless, the circuit has confirmed they have reached out to Supercars to offer their support and willingness to host a round in any revised 2020 schedule.

Industry speculation has already linked The Bend to replace Sandown’s round this September – essentially returning to the circuit to the original slot it had on the first version of this year’s schedule.

“The Bend is ready, willing, and able to step up and assist at short notice should Supercars require additional rounds this year, in light of the current situation in Victoria,” Dr. Shahin told The Race Torque.

A rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in Melbourne saw New South Wales announce plans to close their border to Victoria for the first time in 100 years this week, forcing teams based in Melbourne to rapidly pack and head north in a mad scramble on Monday afternoon.

Those teams will be based at Sydney Motorsport Park until at least the next weekend’s planned third round of the Supercars Championship, however the new total lockdown of Melbourne for at least the next six weeks means the chances of teams being able to return to Victoria soon are highly unlikely.

Supercars are scheduled to race in Darwin and Townsville following the second Sydney event, although the likelihood exists of additional rounds being added as a side-effect of the lockdown while the Melbourne teams are out of the state.

Victoria’s escalating Coronavirus situation and Monday’s border-crossing dash by the Victorian teams saw The Bend reach out to Supercars this week to offer their support should it be required

“The decisions they make to successfully complete a championship this year will go a long way to dictating the long-term health of the series going forward,” Dr. Shahin added.

“We want a strong Supercars and we want them at The Bend for years to come. If we can be there to support them this year, then we will do it.

“This ongoing situation and the remarkable sacrifice made by the Victorian teams to leave their homes and families, to ensure the show can go on, is an incredible display of commitment to the sport and the championship and we want to support that.”

Premier Steven Marshall said yesterday that the South Australian Government’s plans to open borders to New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory by July 20 remained on track, a date strengthened by the closure of the New South Wales-Victoria border and also moves to stop any Victorians from crossing the South Australian border at all.  

Effectively, it would mean Supercars teams could cross from either Sydney, Queensland or the Northern Territory without needing to self-isolate for the mandated 14 days, opening up the South Australian venue as another potential option for the championship should Victoria remain out of bounds for much what remains of 2020.

The Bend’s 100-room on-site hotel and Big 4 Holiday Park would allow several local accommodation options for teams, while the relative distance from Adelaide’s major population centre would make the venue a logical place to create a Supercars ‘hub’ should the series visit while retaining their strict quarantine requirements, as witnessed at the recent Sydney Motorsport Park event two weeks ago.

A variety of circuit layouts, including the 4.9km International circuit utilised for the two previous rounds already held at the circuit, open the opportunity for the championship to race on different circuit configurations should they need to add more than one event.

“We have the ability to make the Rydges Pit Lane hotel available to the teams and the garages and our broader facilities are there for them to operate out of for as long as required,” Dr. Shahin said.

“We have all the provisions in place to provide the social distancing or complete isolation of the teams from the public if required.

“The track itself is ready to go and if they wanted to run multiple rounds in quick succession, they could do that as well – using different circuit layouts if they wished.

“We have no doubt that South Australian motorsport fans would welcome Supercars back to The Bend this year.”

The OTR The Bend 500 was originally scheduled to be contested over the September 19-20 weekend this year, a date replaced in the revised calendar by a SuperSprint event at Sandown.

Events already confirmed at The Bend this year include The Bend Classic (September 5-6) and the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships on October 17-18.